As with before the election was called, our team will continue to call for the swift roll out of AI regulation and a data protection bill that promotes data fairness, unlocks growth and delivers the best outcome for specialist publishers.

PPA Chief Executive, Sajeeda Merali comments:

“As we welcome a new administration and the promise of change, two key policy areas for specialist publishers are AI and data. Labour has said it intends to introduce binding regulations for powerful AI companies, requiring them to report before training models over a certain capability, conduct safety testing, and maintain strong information security protections. It’s crucial for the new government to understand the specific regulatory needs of our members, and we will advocate for transparency provisions to address copyright infringement.

The previous Government’s Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, which was discarded in the pre-election “wash-up”, proposed centralising cookie consent with browsers instead of individual websites. This could have worsened data unfairness in the digital market, affecting revenue and publisher-user relationships. We seek a bill that balances privacy needs with being pro-business and pro-consumer.

Labour must grasp how regulatory policies impact our members and avoid a broad-brush approach to the complex data and digital landscape. With this new opportunity for change, we look forward to their support in helping our sector thrive.”