Consultations are underway on yet another media bill that looks to grant the UK Government the power to meddle in how the internet operates.

Unlike the controversy around the Online Safety Bill - which told platforms what to hide - this new bill tells platforms what must be shown. The wording suggests that the government wants British public broadcasters to be prioritised and “prominently discoverable”, presumably by pushing videos from British broadcasters to the top of YouTube search results and recommendations.

The problems that could arise from this are endless - it’s an idea that sounds wise and forward-thinking in a room full of politicians, but little thought out as a practical policy.

A fixed percentage of space handed over to several massive institutional broadcasters will need to come from somewhere, and it will be independent and smaller users on the site that it will be stripped from.

The entire spirit and drive of a user-generated video site like YouTube was the levelled playing field it offered independent video creation, where the casual user is uploading to the exact same platform as an organisation or company, and can be expected to be treated all the same. “A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke,” to quote Andy Warhol.

Read more from Derek McArthur:

Swapping the boss won't put back together a broken Creative Scotland

In an age of........

© Herald Scotland