From: Wired
by Ash Carter
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The U.S. has a long history of communication and information system regulation. Some economists argue that since Facebook and Google are free, consumers face no economic harm and thus the government has no antitrust authority. That view would be alien to both Senator Sherman, of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and Justices Brandeis and Douglas, who wrote the early the early opinions.
How might we construct different algorithmic approaches to social media curation and delivery? One would organize content by maximizing advertising and platform revenue, essentially the prevailing model. A second would reflect individual choice, based on past patterns. A third would emphasize what’s “trending.” A fourth might be profit-based, but share profit with the owner of the data in another form of subscription-free service. A fifth would have content curated by journalists. Ideally, consumers could freely switch channels and shop, compare, and pay accordingly.
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