Corbyn proposes 'public Facebook' as part of media overhaul
Labour leader tells Edinburgh audience that new digital body could empower viewers
Jeremy Corbyn has proposed establishing a British digital corporation that would commission online TV, offer easy access to archive material held by public sector institutions and operate a social networking arm that could play a role in direct democracy.
“The public realm doesn’t have to sit back and watch as a few mega tech corporations hoover up digital rights, assets and ultimately our money,” the Labour leader said.
He said the British media was failing and that multinational corporations dominated the internet.
Delivering the Alternative MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh television festival on Thursday, Corbyn said: “A BDC could use all of our best minds, the latest technology and our existing public assets not only to deliver information and entertainment to rival Netflix and Amazon but also to harness data for the public good.”
Plans for the new public sector organisation, which would sit alongside the BBC, have led to suggestions that Corbyn wants to create a nationalised answer to Facebook.
However, Corbyn’s team say social networking would be one part of the proposed organisation. They suggest the login used to access BDC content could also be used by the public to vote on which programmes the organisation should commission. The same voting system could be expanded to give the public a say on other parts of the Corbynite policy platform, such as how proposed regional investment banks would operate.
“A BDC could develop new technology for online decision making and audience-led commissioning of programmes and even a public social media platform with real privacy and public control over the data that is making Facebook and others so rich,” Corbyn told the audience.
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