Report by Ada Lovelace Institute

"Findings Across these different public service media organisations, our research has found five key findings:

1. The contextual role of public service media organisations is a major driver for their increasing use of recommendation systems. The last few decades have seen public service media organisations lose market share of news and entertainment to private providers, putting pressure on public service media organisations to use recommendation systems to stay competitive.

2. The values of public service media organisations create different objectives and practices to those in the private sector. While private-sector media organisations are primarily driven to maximise shareholder revenue and market share, with some consideration of social values, public service media organisations are legally mandated to operate with a particular set of public interest values at their core, including universality, independence, excellence, diversity, accountability and innovation.

3. These value differences translate into different objectives for the use of recommendation systems. While private firms seek to maximise metrics like user engagement, ‘time on product’ and subscriber retention in the use of their recommendation systems, public service media organisations seek related but different objectives. For example, rather than maximising engagement with recommendation systems, our research found public service media providers want to broaden their reach to a more diverse set of audiences. Rather than maximising time on product, public service media organisations are more concerned with ensuring the product is useful for all members of society, in line with public interest values.

4. Public service media recommendation systems can raise a range of well-documented ethical risks, but these will differ depending on the type of system and context of its use. Our research found that public service media recognise a wide array of well-documented ethical risks of recommendation systems, including risks to personal autonomy, privacy, misinformation and fragmentation of the public sphere. However, the type and severity of the risks highlighted depended on which teams we spoke with, with audio-on-demand and video-on-demand teams raising somewhat different concerns to those working on news.

5. Evaluating the risks and mitigations of recommendation systems must be done in the context of the wider product. Addressing the risks of public service media recommendation systems should not just focus on technical fixes. Aligning product goals and other product features with public service values are just as important in ensuring recommendation systems positive contribute the experiences of audiences and to wider society."