A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said the British minister for digital, culture, media and sport, Oliver Dowden, had said the cabinet was developing a new white paper on broadcasting
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova expects Western countries to resent the British media regulator’s plans to restrict the operation of streaming services and they will respond appropriately.
“I expect an explosion of outraged voices in the United States, Germany, France, the Netherlands and, of course, the Baltics under the slogan ‘Freedom is being stifled in Britain,'” TASS quoted Zakharova as saying in her Telegram channel.
According to Zakharova, Oliver Dowden, Britain’s minister for digital, culture, media and sport, said that the Cabinet was drafting a new “broadcasting white paper” – a document which sets out how London will build relationships with media operators in the future. The diplomat pointed out that Ofcom, the public media regulator, which has controlled British television for years, plans to extend its practices to online streaming (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV and others).
This novelty, she continued, was immediately noticed by British tabloids.
“As if on cue, a clarification from an unnamed government source appeared in the Telegraph and Times: ‘British broadcasters have to compete with these giants with their hands tied behind their backs.’ Everything indicates that the British government has decided to put the Internet platforms on an equal footing with the analogue media, and instead of guaranteeing freedoms, it will systematically limit them.