Daily Mail owner says it needs to buy Telegraph to take on Google

THE publisher of the Daily Mail has said it should be allowed to take over The

Telegraph to bulk up and challenge the power of Google and other tech giants.

In a submission to the House of Lords’ communications committee, DMG Media dismissed concerns that it would hold too big a share of the news market if it bought The Telegraph, saying British media outlets were now “minnows” compared with their US tech rivals.

Instead, it argued that regulators should take a wider view of competition to take into account that newspapers command a dwindling share of the news market.

DMG Media told an inquiry into the future of news: “If Britain is to maintain a world-class news publishing industry, it must have the resources to attract the best talent, negotiate with tech giants, invest in new formats and operate on a global scale. This means competition rules must change.” It came after rival bidder Sir Paul Marshall was accused of endorsing extremist content from farRight and conspiracy theory accounts on social media.

An investigation by the anti-extremism group Hope Not Hate found Sir Paul had repeatedly liked and retweeted posts that called for mass deportations and claimed Britain was facing a looming civil war between “native Europeans” and “fake refugee invaders”.

All tweets and more than over 300 likes have since been removed from the account. A spokesman said the sample did not represent Sir Paul’s views.

The Telegraph is in line to be controlled by an Abu Dhabi-backed fund, but the deal is being reviewed by Ofcom as a potential threat to press freedom. The publisher of the Daily Mail is among other potential bidders hoping it will be blocked.

DMG Media said: “In a world where there is only one search engine and two AI developers, news publishers will have to consolidate. Plurality of news must be measured across the whole spectrum that any member of the public can access on their smartphone.”

The Daily Mail, which is owned by Lord Rothermere, was among suitors to express interest in buying The Telegraph when it was put up for sale last year by Lloyds Bank, which seized control of the newspaper from the Barclay family over £1.2bn in unpaid debts.

However, its bid was derailed after RedBird IMI, a fund 75pc backed by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the vice-president of the UAE, struck a complex deal to gain control of the newspaper after repaying the debts.

Interest from DMG Media, which owns Metro and the i, as well as the Mail titles, has led to concerns about the further consolidation of power into a handful of media owners.

Lord Rothermere commands around 40pc market share in UK newspapers. An acquisition of The Telegraph would push this over 50pc.