10,000 People Sign Official Petition Demanding Government End ‘Capture of UK Democracy by Media Billionaires’

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A parliamentary petition demanding that the Government pass a ‘Media Sovereignty Act’ to stop the ownership of UK media outlets by foreign-based billionaires has reached the threshold of 10,000 signatures, meaning ministers will now have to respond.

The petition calls on Keir Starmer’s Government to implement new legislation designed to end the “domination of British politics, through the hijacking of our media, by a tiny billionaire elite.”

The campaign from the Media Sovereignty Act Campaign is proposing a new law to overhaul media ownership in the UK, which they claim is dominated by a handful of wealthy individuals, often based overseas.

It demands that only UK-based individuals, or entities owned only by UK-based people or shareholders, should be allowed to own or hold any shares in any UK national media organisations or large regional media groups.

The draft law states: “A sovereign media is essential for a free people and a fair, thriving democracy in the United Kingdom. True sovereignty includes media freedom from subjugation by foreign interests and excessive concentration of ownership by any class or group of individuals. And genuine sovereignty of the people requires a genuine stake for all sections of society in the ownership of the UK’s media.”

It would also ensure that no single organisation would be allowed to own more than one national newspaper or commercial national broadcasting corporation. And no single individual “or family” would be able to own more than 20% of any major UK national newspaper or media organisation.

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This is a direct challenge to the Murdoch family’s ownership of publications like The Sun and The Times, as well as Viscount Rothermere’s Mail group ownership of both the Daily Mail titles and the i paper.

Others likely in the firing line include Paul Marshall, who is the co-owner and founder of GB News (recently criticised as ‘Reform TV’) as well as the owner of online title UnHerd and the Spectator magazine. Hedge funder Marshall purchased the ‘Conservative bible’ for £100m in September 2024.

A levy would also be applied to the UK turnover of the large international social media corporations operating in the UK, dubbed the ‘Media Sovereignty Levy’. The proceeds of the levy would be invested in supporting the diversification of ownership of the UK’s independent media, and local news which has faced huge cuts in recent years.

The bill argues that to ensure sovereignty of the UK’s media, it must be kept free from “corruption by non-transparently funded think-tanks.” An official public register of public policy organisations (think-tanks) would be established. To qualify for registration, they would have to maintain a live publicly accessible record of their donors, presumably over a certain donation threshold.

“Failure to maintain this donor record shall result in immediate suspension from the register” – and crucially, national media organisations, whether commercial or publicly owned and including the BBC, would be barred from platforming or covering any spokesperson, policy report or any other output of a public policy organisation (think-tank) that does not declare its donors. It is not clear whether this would apply to campaign groups.

Director of the Media Sovereignty Campaign Donnachadh McCarthy told Byline Times: “It is disappointing that with the huge majority that Keir Starmer has, he failed to include anything in the King’s Speech to reclaim our media for the people from the billionaire elite.

“This means it is now a key test for any potential leadership candidate claiming to be committed to the transformative changes the country needs, on whether they back the radical media ownership reform enshrined in the Media Sovereignty Act.”

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He added that over his career he had witnessed a “visceral fear” of “the Daily Mail test” – whether an idea or policy would be met with outrage by the publication. “It is time to end this billionaire hijacking of our democracy once and for all.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport told this outlet: “The UK has an independent, self-regulatory system for the press, which is important for press freedom. However, with this freedom comes responsibility, and newspapers must operate within the bounds of the law and have a responsibility to uphold high professional and ethical standards. This includes ensuring access to clear, timely and effective routes to redress.”

The Government says it has received the petition and will respond in due course.

The UK’s Foreign State Influence regime prevents print and online newspaper and news magazine mergers resulting in influence or control by foreign states, though it is not retrospective, meaning existing arrangements may slip below the radar.

No more than 15% may be held by State Owned Investors such as pension funds. The Secretary of State is legally compelled to intervene if she has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a foreign power may hold the ability to influence or control the policy of a UK newspaper enterprise as a result of a merger.

But media reform campaigners say the issue is not simply where media owners are based, but about the concentration of power.

Co-Director Caspar Hughes called media reform “the most urgent political issue of our time” – to “end the hijacking of political power by the billionaire media owners.”

Once the Government has provided its response to the petition, the campaign plans to ramp up to get the necessary 100,000 signatures, which then requires the Government to consider the petition for debate in Parliament.

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The State of UK Media Ownership

A 2025 report by the Media Reform Coalition found that just three companies – DMG Media, News UK and Reach – control 90% of UK national newspaper circulation, a 20% increase in market concentration since 2014. In that time, print newspaper circulations have crashed, though the titles remain influential in steering public policy and setting the political agenda.

These same three companies account for over 40% of the combined reach of the UK’s top 50 online newsbrands, “giving these publishers significant power to set and steer the national news agenda,” the researchers argued.

The UK’s local newspapers are also dominated by a handful of corporate publishers, with just two companies – Newquest and National World (now called Iconic Media) – controlling 51% of the UK’s then-882 local newspapers and online local news websites.

In commercial radio, just two companies – Bauer and Global – own two-thirds of the UK’s national DAB radio stations, and more than 60% of local analogue stations. Bauer, Global and News Broadcasting (owned by Murdoch publisher News UK) together control more than three-quarters of the UK’s national DAB radio market.

However, not covered by the bill is the growing domination of big tech firms. Seven of the top 15 online platforms used to access news in the UK are controlled by Meta, Google and Elon Musk’s X Corp. TikTok is also rising rapidly as a source of news among young people.

The Media Reform Coalition report found that Google commands 93% of UK search engine use, while Meta and Google together account for three-fifths of all UK advertising spend, “giving these two Big Tech companies unrivalled control over how news is found, accessed and funded online.”

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Large Language Models – AI tools like ChatGPT, Grok and Claude – are also increasingly bypassing traditional media websites altogether. while ‘AI Overviews’ in search results have led to a collapse in traffic from search to news providers.

News publishers are also facing an advertising wipeout. Press Gazette research from April this year found that three US tech giants account for two thirds of every pound spent on advertising in the UK last year. While ad spend in the UK is rising, “nearly all the new money went to Google, Meta and Amazon which together accounted for some £31bn of the total” according to the analysis.

“Adspend with the entire magazine and news industry fell 5.1% year on year to £1.6bn. Both print and online revenue fell last year in every publishing segment: national newsbrands, regional newsbrands and magazines,” Press Gazette found, highlighting the waning economic fortunes of traditional media brands.

Just three US firms – Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ – account for 75% of all UK video-on-demand subscriptions.

The Media Sovereignty Act campaign has five demands:

Ban foreign media ownership.
Ban the concentration of UK national media ownership by one person or corporation.
Fund independent and local media with a social media levy.
Require national media to be under the remit of the statutory regulator.
Require “dark-money funded think-tanks” that are covered by the media to declare donations in real time.

The King’s Speech on Wednesday (13th May) made no mention of media reform.

The Media Sovereignty Act Campaign Petition is here.

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