A measure for networks as necessary as it is dangerous

The United Kingdom's ministers plan to implement a series of measures to ensure that traditional media outlets appear more prominently in social media feeds. They adopt the arguments of the BBC and other public broadcasters who claim that their content is drowned out by the vast tide of content creators who often spread misinformation. Furthermore, the enormous volume of videos produced in the United States in English makes it difficult for British offerings to stand out. (If the UK, with its splendidly healthy English, is worried... let's stop for ten seconds to think about what state of panic we who worry about Catalan should enter).The idea is as commendable and reasonable on paper as it is impossible to apply in practice. Perhaps it works in the United Kingdom, but here it would be impossible to import. Because even assuming – and that is a big assumption – that the tech giants would allow a government to tinker with their algorithm, the very delicate question of how a medium is given the seal of quality necessary to enjoy this boost in views and how it is denied to the one next to it would need to be resolved. If a government does it, it opens the door to ideological arbitrariness. Can anyone imagine the PSOE deciding who gets on the list? Or a government of the PP and Vox? Would the list be redefined with each change of government? And if it is the sector that validates the media, it opens the door to spurious corporatism, first, and then to partisan biases: one only needs to see who sits in certain television talk shows or which awards the majority of guild entities give to friends, acquaintances and acquaintances to confirm that they are anything but neutral. We will have to follow this British proposal with attention, therefore, but also with skepticism, to see if it comes to fruition. That is, if a prime minister lasts more than ten months, of course.