Can We – And Should We – Trust Tech? Lessons to Adhere to from the Post Office Scandal at SXSW London

“I’m here to tell you how to avoid becoming the next Post Office scandal,” warned Bryan Glick, editor-in-chief of Computer Weekly – the publication that broke the story back in 2009 – to open his SXSW London session. What followed was an urgent and uncompromising examination of how one of the UK’s gravest miscarriages of justice came to pass, and how the same conditions still threaten us today.

The Post Office scandal was more than a one-off disaster – it was a perfect storm of toxic culture, flawed technology, poor governance, and institutional failure. Bryan's session offered a compelling reminder that in an era increasingly governed by AI, automation, and opaque digital systems, ignoring the lessons of Horizon could cost more than reputational damage – it could cost lives and liberty.

The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024, passed only in May last year, marked an unprecedented moment in UK legal history. It was the first Act of Parliament to explicitly overturn decisions of the criminal courts – more than 900 wrongful convictions based on flawed evidence from the Post Office’s Horizon IT system. And yet, the total number of victims remains unknown. Some have never come forward. Some died before justice arrived.

The public outrage that finally ignited came not from Parliament or press, but from TV. On January 1st 2024, ITV aired ‘Mr. Bates vs The Post Office’, the drama that finally brought the scandal into the nation’s living rooms. For those at Computer Weekly, who had been covering the story since 2009, the moment was bittersweet.

“We spent 15 years wondering why this wasn’t on the BBC News at Ten,” Glick said. “After the drama aired – it finally was.”

Ten days after the broadcast, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced sweeping legal reforms, making Alan Bates, the former sub-postmaster turned lead campaigner, and his legal allies instantly became household names. But this public reckoning came 25 years after the flawed Horizon system was rolled out, and 15 years after Computer Weekly first exposed the scandal.

Bryan traced the trail of injustice back to 1995, when a change to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act reversed the burden of proof for digital evidence. From that point, courts assumed computers were always correct – unless proven otherwise. The Post Office lobbied hard for this change, knowing it would benefit their ability to prosecute sub-postmasters privately, without CPS involvement. So when Horizon began reporting shortfalls, headquarters didn't question the system – they questioned the people, convicting hundreds of innocent branch managers were convicted and many lives were ruined. So what can marketers learn from this tale?

Five Lessons to Avoid the Next Post Office Scandal
Bryan’s session was a call to arms for every business, institution, and technology leader to consider the omnipresence of AI – which is now taking on even greater power and opacity than Horizon ever had, multiplying the risks substantially. He suggests:

1. Question Your Culture

Complex technology encourages confirmation bias. Just because the system says something, it doesn’t necessarily make it true.

2. Nurture Internal Expertise

Too many organisations outsource their most critical systems. The Post Office became completely dependent on Fujitsu, the company behind Horizon – not just for the tech, but for understanding it. The contract with Fuijitsu still continues today. “Switch off Horizon,” Bryan said, “and you switch off the Post Office.”

3. Value the Right People

The Post Office HQ ignored its most trusted customer touchpoints: sub-postmasters. “They were and are the Post Office to most of us,” said Bryan. Prioritising the institution over the individual proved catastrophic.

4. Technology Is Not a Panacea

Automating a bad process doesn’t fix it – it just makes it worse, faster. AI won’t save your business if your culture, processes, and people are broken.

5. Bring Everyone With You

Post Office workers didn’t understand the tech that judged them – and they weren’t supported. Today’s AI transformation must be inclusive, explainable, and empathetic. Leaders must take responsibility for demystifying what’s happening and why.

6. Don’t Be the Next Scandal

Bryan closed with a final call to organisations to improve their infrastructures to avoid being beaten by technology. “If your organisation hasn’t learned from this, you are very much at risk in this emerging age of AI of becoming the next, turbocharged Post Office scandal.”