Voluntary or not, the direction of travel is the same. Platforms are being shaped less by what audiences choose and more by who gets pre-approved to reach them. 6/6
Leading on from yesterday's thread, a government green paper wants YouTube and TikTok to push "trustworthy" broadcasters higher up your feed, with the paper stating this is voluntary. 1/6
https://t.co/LO4WMMYw8p
YouTube themselves have pushed back on the proposal, warning it could bury independent channels to make room. Worth noting their own recommendation algorithm isn't transparent either, so neither side is arguing from neutral ground. 5/6
Whether it's due to reduced viewership or more control over the narrative, legally mandating private companies to display your chosen broadcasters will hinder discoverability of smaller creators in the same space. 4/6
It seems this trend of pushing government approved platforms is a growing trend among the wider internet, and for areas where they cannot push their sources, they'll eventually have some sort of ID verification. 3/6
Whether any of this survives the real White Paper is another story completely but we can see the direction they want to push things towards, more approved sources and less of everything else. 5/5
The Lords wrote to the Culture Secretary about the BBC this week. Buried in it is a number that actually stopped me. Broadcast TV reached 92% of the UK weekly in 2015. Last year it was 54%. Nearly halved in ten years. 1/5
https://t.co/iVnm7Wkq5j
One bit I did like. They knocked back the idea of giving the BBC a formal "drive economic growth" purpose. It already puts £6.7bn into the economy without one. Chase growth targets and I'll bet you can guess what happens to what actually gets made. 4/5
They also want any new job given to the BBC (AI, regional growth, whatever) to come with actual funding, not just vibes. They called this being "bold, confident and unapologetic." Feels like a lot of adjectives just to say pay for what you ask for 3/5
That's basically the whole argument. They want the BBC pushed harder on smart TVs and Fire Sticks because BBC One used to just be channel 1, no negotiation needed. On an app menu, platforms can bury you wherever suits them. 2/5
@RudyLTX@asha_shar While she may have bonuses related to profit, you cannot say these studios have been releasing great games that have sold well. Something needs to change if we are to get good games again. Only ID Software should have been protected in my opinion. Bethesda should be cut too