Speeches by Irons.

“The Government’s recent Green Paper on prominence is something that we have talked about on the Committee before, and prominence is something I know public service broadcasters are keen to have. What are the barriers to prominence on platforms such as YouTube?”

“I will come on to that in a later question. I want to go back to the relationship the BBC has with YouTube. How do we ensure that it is not an extractive relationship on YouTube’s behalf? How do we generate enough income from that to pay for the content the BBC is making to put on YouTube? You talked earlier about pivo…”

“Do you think there is space for the Government to do more on disinformation on platforms such as YouTube?”

“How do you currently monitor how employees feel?”

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) for securing this important debate. As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on youth affairs, I know the importance of services for young people, and I welcome the Government’s leadership on this issue. When I meet young people in my constitu…”

“I forgot to declare an interest: I used to work at Channel 4 and in Channel 4 streaming, so I am very interested in this area.”

“I suppose the question will be: what is the public service value in outbidding commercial broadcasters for things like “Scooby-Doo” when you could be reinvesting in British content and news?”

“I suppose the issue for the BBC in this space is that, ultimately, you are a media organisation, just as much as X or YouTube is a media organisation, but you are fighting different battles. You will come under the cosh if someone so much as misquotes a politician, and rightly so, whereas there can be a proliferation o…”

“Matt, in your opening comments, you talked about the BBC being a trusted voice, especially in news. We will talk about the World Service later, but given the cuts being made to the workforce and shape of the BBC, and given that it is a priority for the Government to ensure that the BBC stays a trusted voice, how are th…”

“I declare an interest: I worked for a public service broadcaster and my husband still does. I say as somebody who understands the sector a bit that it is not just about public service but about recognising Britishness on our screens and in the media and, essentially, protecting what it is to be us, as well as providing…”

“I would like to thank the young people in my constituency from Ark Blake Academy, Oasis Academy Arena and Oasis Academy Shirley Park for meeting me to share their views on how to keep them safe online. They were clear that they wanted action against the harmful aspects of social media, but wanted to protect the good bi…”

“I am interested in the question of the BBC driving technological development in line with public values—not just commercial imperatives—and how that can work along with AI. How much investment would we need to put behind the BBC to get it to where it is not necessarily in competition with those massive international pl…”

“Yes, but—”

“We have talked about algorithms and how we are living in an age of endless content and information along with the power of algorithms to editorialise what we see and shape the collective individualism we all have with our screens. What are the practicalities? I think that the aspiration should be there for the BBC to a…”

“I guess that is tricky. It is a global market, and you are trying to retain people on iPlayer. You are going to want to catch their eyeballs as they land on that first page. You want it to be the thing that they have heard talked about on YouTube and whatever.”

“We have obviously talked about YouTube and its algorithm quite a lot. One of the good things about iPlayer is that it is the BBC’s own walled garden, so it can create tech and algorithm recommendation tools in line with public service broadcast values and what the BBC is for—if we ever find out what the BBC thinks it i…”

“Yes, and they want to see the thing they have seen there when they get on to the platform. You are going to have to track it through—sorry, that is getting a bit into the weeds. My final question is to both of you. There has been talk about trying to bring other public service broadcasters on to iPlayer to make it a mu…”

“I have two accounts: one that is dogs and one that is MPs. You are not necessarily actively choosing what you watch; it is being editorialised on your behalf. Given that, should there be more transparency on what is constructed within the algorithms so that you have genuine choice about what is editorialised and put in…”

“I want to talk briefly about iPlayer. In this changing landscape, BBC iPlayer has been quite a good thing for the BBC. It was a big bet that they made quite early, and it has worked out pretty well for them. Jordan, what do you think they should do to maximise the potential of iPlayer?”

“And ITV or whatever.”