How will the Welsh Government ensure that digital media companies are held accountable in ensuring that online Welsh-medium content is not suppressed by their algorithms?
The Welsh Government is aware of the wide-ranging challenges affecting the accessibility and consumption of Welsh content.
Creative Wales is seeking to explore opportunities to increase provision of Welsh language content on the global streaming platforms, building on the recent example of the purchase of the Dal y Mellt licence from S4C as the first Welsh language programme purchased by Netflix. We also continue to work with the UK Government to press for the needs of Welsh language speakers to be promoted and protected on more digital and online channels as the regulatory framework evolves and the UK Government takes forward the proposals set out in its Media White Paper and draft Media Bill.
Through our support for awareness raising events such as the Wales Screen Summit, our provision of development funding and our support for R&D through media.cymru, we ensure that the content broadcast industry here is aware of best practices in the use emerging platforms and has the necessary links to the wider industry to promote and champion Welsh content across all formats. The industry can also access the funding and skills support to be able to develop new technology capabilities and content for emerging platforms.
Through our Cymraeg 2050 initiative we fund the development of new Welsh language technologies, requiring them to be released under a suitably permissive open licence for use, reuse and embedding in other companies’ products. This means that Welsh data and content is available for digital media companies to reuse in expanding and developing their own services.
The Cymraeg 2050 team within Welsh Government recently worked with Amazon to include Welsh as one of the 51 languages in their research database. They have also worked with Microsoft on the introduction of simultaneous interpretation in Microsoft Teams. These, and other government led initiatives contribute towards the availability and prominence of Welsh content on technology platforms more generally, and in turn towards the objective of doubling the number of us who use Welsh every day by 2050.