Kamran Balayev is an international legal and policy expert, business leader, and former London mayoral candidate.
In 1215, a group of barons gathered in Runnymede to demand that unchecked power be restrained by written law. The result was the Magna Carta — a document that marked the beginning of the modern idea of constitutional limits. Over eight centuries later, the imbalance is digital, not feudal. And the unchecked power is no longer wielded by kings, but by platforms.
The time has come for a Digital Magna Carta, and London is uniquely placed to lead its creation.
A Digital Magna Carta is not a left-wing project. Nor is it a bureaucratic overreach. It is a deeply conservative imperative: rooted in liberty, responsibility, constitutionalism, and restraint of unaccountable power.
Conservatives believe in markets, but not monopolies. We believe in innovation, but not exploitation. We defend property rights — and our data, too, is property.
When unregulated platforms harvest data, shape discourse, and rewrite the rules of commerce with no democratic input, this is not progress. It is drift. Conservatives know that institutions matter. If we want freedom to survive the algorithmic age, then we must build institutions capable of defending it.
This is not about more government. It is about smarter government — the kind that understands the digital economy, respects personal freedom, and ensures rules serve people, not just profit.
For too long, the architecture of the digital world has evolved in a legal vacuum. The internet, once hailed as a decentralised haven for expression and commerce, has become a vertically integrated surveillance system; engineered not to inform, but to extract. As Harvard professor Shoshana Zuboff recently reminded us, this wasn’t inevitable. It was a choice — or more accurately, the result of a series of strategic abdications.
In 1997, US policymakers handed over internet governance to the private sector, proclaiming that “the private sector must lead.” It did. But it led us into an economy where the commodification of human behaviour became the foundation for trillion-dollar valuations. Today, five companies — Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft — determine the terms of digital engagement for billions of people, despite having no democratic mandate to do so.
The EU has responded, belatedly but seriously, with the Digital Services Act and the upcoming AI Act. But the machinery of Brussels is slow and fragmented. The US, being such a large and multifaceted country, finds systemic reform hard to achieve quickly. London, however, is agile, independent, and already a global financial and legal capital. It can, and should, set the precedent. What would a Digital Magna Carta actually look like?
First, it would define the rights of individuals in the digital age: the right to privacy, to transparency, to algorithmic accountability, and to opt out of commodification. These rights must be enforceable, not theoretical.
Second, it would create a new class of public institutions, capable of auditing powerful algorithms, overseeing platform behaviour, and acting as independent regulators of data-driven systems. Much like the FCA and Ofcom reshaped finance and telecoms, a Digital Governance Authority could enforce rules in the algorithmic economy.
Third, it would treat data as infrastructure, not just private capital. Health, transport, and education data — when securely shared — have the potential to drive public value. But this requires digital trusts governed by public law, not shareholder interest.
Fourth, it would clarify the limits of private power over public space. Today, a single billionaire can purchase a major platform and alter the boundaries of democratic discourse at will. This is no longer a business question. It is a constitutional one.
Fifth, it would recognise that technology must be an enabler — not a taker of jobs or a destroyer of dignity. Innovation should support productivity, opportunity, and human freedom — not quietly replace workers, deskill professions, or hollow out communities. If algorithms are taking value from our lives, then we are entitled to ask: where is the return?
Sixth, the Digital Magna Carta must introduce a mechanism to secure a fair share of the profits Big Tech generates from extracting our data. Our digital behaviour is now a commodity, but one we do not own, do not price, and do not profit from. London should lead the world in pioneering data trusts, royalty models, and digital resource levies that ensure the public — not just platforms — share in the wealth of the data economy.
There is a strong case for London. London is not just another European capital. It is a city built on rules, institutions, and global trust. We didn’t just follow global finance — we built it.
From the founding of Lloyd’s of London to the creation of the London Stock Exchange and the evolution of common law, Britain pioneered the tools, concepts, and institutions that allowed capital to flow securely across borders. Our time zone, straddling Asia and America, turned London into the natural centre of global finance. Our language became the language of commerce. And our legal system — rooted in precedent, fairness, and contractual certainty — remains the global standard for business transactions.
London’s rise was no accident. It was the result of rules-based innovation, of aligning enterprise with trust. Today, as the digital economy outpaces the legal frameworks that govern it, we must channel that same ambition. This time, not for finance, but for data.
Post-Brexit, London is no longer shackled by the slow consensus of 27 member states. It can move quickly, decisively, and competitively — offering legal clarity, ethical credibility, and global leadership.
It would be a mistake to try to become Europe’s Silicon Valley. We don’t need another California. We need something better: a digital capital defined not by how much it extracts, but by how much it protects.
This must be the national agenda and strategy – not a niche policy idea. The Digital Magna Carta must become the defining agenda of every single MP, every Mayor, and every Prime Minister who cares about liberty, democracy, and economic competitiveness in the 21st century.
This is Britain’s opportunity to lead again — not by force or empire, but by setting the gold standard for digital rights, data ethics, and AI governance. London can, and must, be the apex of this movement: a capital not just of finance, but of digital constitutionalism.
London already dominates the world of civil contract law, its courts trusted for clarity and impartiality. That pedigree offers a natural springboard into the digital realm. A Digital Magna Carta could turn the capital into the forum of choice for resolving disputes over data, digital ownership and online rights. The prize is not just prestige: anchoring digital law in London would draw investment, attract talent and reinforce the city’s role as a trusted broker in a fracturing global order.
As Zuboff rightly says: surveillance capitalism is not the weather. It is man-made. And it can be unmade. But only if someone leads.
Let that somewhere be in London.
Let those values be Conservative.
Let the 21st-century Magna Carta begin here.
