Thousands of members of actors’ trade union Equity are being asked whether they would support industrial action over artificial intelligence protections.

The organisation has launched an indicative ballot among about 7,000 members working in film and TV.

Performers are being asked whether they are prepared to refuse to be digitally scanned on set in order to secure adequate artificial intelligence protections.

It will be the first time the performing arts and entertainment trade union has asked this whole section of its membership to vote in a ballot.

The announcement follows the Hollywood strikes in 2023, when members of Equity’s sister union in the US, SAG-AFTRA, and writers, went on strike over issues including AI.

Video game actors in the US also protested over the use of AI, ending almost a year of industrial action earlier in 2025.

Equity’s ballot opens on Thursday and runs for two weeks, and will show the level of support the union has for action short of a strike.

Another statutory ballot would have to be made before any industrial action is taken.

“While tech companies get away with stealing artists’ likeness or work, and the government and decision makers fret over whether to act, unions including Equity are at the forefront of the fight to ensure working people are protected from artificial intelligence misuse,” Equity general secretary Paul W Fleming said in a statement.

“If bosses can’t ensure someone’s likeness and work won’t be used without their consent, why should performers consent to be digitally scanned in the first place?”

Mr Fleming said the ballot would give members the opportunity to “send a clear message to the industry: that it is a basic right of performers to have autonomy over their own personhood and identity”.

The union has no choice but to recommend members support industrial action, he said.

“It’s time for the bosses to step away from the brink and offer us a package, including on AI protections, which respects our members,” added Mr Fleming.

The hotly anticipated Spotify Wrapped is revealing our top tracks, artists and albums for 2025.

But how does the streaming service calculate personalised summaries of users’ listening habits and rank the UK’s hottest artists?

Here’s a look at how your data is used.

The platform describes the annual statistics as “a chance to look back on your year in sound”.

It says data is captured between January and mid-November on every account, although it mostly excludes anything streamed in private mode. (Don’t worry, your passion for the Spice Girls can be kept secret.)

Wrapped presents personalised listening statistics, which Spotify calls the “real story of your year of listening”, alongside global figures for comparison.

The streaming service says Minutes Listened reflects the actual time spent listening to audio on the platform.

Once a user streams at least 30 tracks, Spotify generates a list of Your Top Songs. Similarly, Your Top Artists ranks artists based on total minutes listening to a particular performer.

Other metrics identify the top genres users have played, as well as podcasts and audiobooks ranked by total minutes listened. And if you’ve listened to at least 70% of tracks on a record, you’ll see top albums too.

Spotify also creates Your Listening Age, a guesstimate of your age based on the era of the music “you feel most connected to”.

The streaming service says the statistic is calculated using a five-year span of music which users engaged with more than other listeners of a similar age.

Swift vs Bunny

Pop superstar Taylor Swift has been named the UK’s most-streamed artist on Spotify for the third year in a row.

But she dropped out of the top spot in the global rankings, coming second to Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, who secured more than 19.8 billion streams. Third were The Weeknd, followed by Drake and Billie Eilish.

Bad Bunny’s LP Debi Tirar Mas Fotos was the most listened-to album worldwide.

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Spotify revealed Drake was the UK’s second most-listened to artist, followed by Sabrina Carpenter in third, The Weeknd in fourth and Billie Eilish in fifth.

Despite being the most listened-to artist, Swift failed to break into the UK’s top five most listened-to songs and albums of the year.

Alex Warren’s Ordinary was the most-streamed song, and Short ‘N’ Sweet, released by Carpenter last year, the top album.

Israel will be allowed to compete in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest – with several broadcasters saying they will now boycott the event.

Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, Spain’s RTVE and Ireland’s RTE immediately issued statements saying they will not participate in the 2026 contest following the European Broadcasting Union’s general assembly meeting on Thursday.

Sky News understands Slovenia’s broadcaster will also pull out.

Members were asked to vote in a secret ballot on whether they were happy with new rules announced last month, without going ahead with a vote on participation next year.

In a statement, the EBU said members had shown “clear support for reforms to reinforce trust and protect neutrality”.

Ahead of the assembly, Israel’s public broadcaster KAN said its chief executive Golan Yochpaz and representative to the EBU, Ayala Mizrahi, would present KAN’s position “regarding attempts to disqualify Israel from the competition”.

The rule changes annnounced in November came after Israeli singer Yuval Raphael received the largest number of votes from the public at this year’s contest, held in Basel, Switzerland, in May – ultimately finishing as runner-up to Austria’s entry after the jury votes were counted.

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