Sir Paul Marshall, an evangelical Christian and distinguished British media owner has called on Elon Musk and the bosses of other social media platforms to publish the algorithms that determine the visibility of posts – and to grow to be more accountable.
Speaking in a lecture at Oxford University, Sir Paul, a number one investor in TV channel GB News, and owner of The Spectator magazine and UnHerd, the news and opinion website, called on the Big Tech platforms to make major changes to the best way they operate.
He said, “Social media platforms like X, Bluesky or Meta needs to be required to publish all of the algorithms that they use to analyse or influence our preferences. Elon Musk believes in open source and transparency for manufacturing. He should do the identical for X.
“We should all give you the chance to understand how the algorithms work which place certain stories and characters in our timeline and never others.”
Sir Paul also called on the platforms to grow to be more accountable. He explained, “Social media platforms needs to be regulated as common carriers. Under the present regulations, they’re exempted from any of the responsibilities of a standard publisher. They have power without responsibility. Effectively, those that post are treated as publishers.
“The platforms can’t be held to account for what’s published, yet they still enjoy most of the powers of a publisher. In particular, they will manipulate the saliency of posts through algorithms and even suspend accounts, even that of President Trump.
“This is unsuitable, and platforms must have less power and more accountability. At the very least, there should be constraints around them similar to you’ll impose on a bank or a railway. They shouldn’t be allowed to refuse or suspend accounts or to actively demote the visibility of a post, unless it’s in clear breach of the law.”
Sir Paul is a number one philanthropist, supporting a wide selection of charities. He is generally known as a member and supporter of Holy Trinity Brompton Church, London, the house of the internationally-successful Alpha Course.
He was giving a lecture titled ‘Reflections of an Accidental Media Owner,’ hosted by The Pharos Foundation, an Oxford-based research institution and academic charity. Sir Paul outlined his approach to the media, searching for to encourage a wide selection of voices in a pluralistic landscape. He strongly criticised the dominant role played by the BBC within the UK.
Reviewing the present media landscape with many voices competing for attention, Sir Paul said: “The dangers of this recent ecosystem are clear. Unless we’re careful, conspiracy theories will multiply. Truth shall be sacrificed much more in the hunt for eyeballs, and tribal conflict will grow to be ever more dominant.”
He said: “The key overriding principle for me is to be sure that there’s a golden thread of responsibility and accountability running through every little thing, whether that be the platforms, the publishers or self-publishing individuals.”
Rev Peter Crumpler is a Church of England minister in St Albans, Herts, UK, and a former communications director with the CofE.
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