Being able to access diverse, reliable sources of information online is essential, but this is under attack. We need innovative solutions to challenge the dominance of companies like Facebook and Google, strengthen ‘net neutrality’, and support freedom of expression and inclusive public debate online.
In his Alternative McTaggart lecture in 2018, Jeremy Corbyn called for a new British Digital Corporation alongside the BBC “to rival Netflix and Amazon, but also to harness data for the public good.” The 2019 Labour Party Manifesto pledged to nationalise broadband infrastructure and provide everyone with free high-speed internet service. Clearly the emergence of platform monopolies in search, social media and excessive content provision decimates the public value of the internet commons and exacerbates digital divides in access to diverse and credible sources of news and information.
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