Big Tech threatens democracy and one solution may be to take away their role as gatekeepers of content and let users choose the information presented to them
Among the many transformations taking place in the U.S. economy, none is more salient than the growth of gigantic Internet platforms. Tweets: @ethanz , @girautaoficial , @bergmayer , @barakrichman , and @foreignaffairs . Thanks: @bigdata Tweets: Ethan Zuckerman / @ethanz : Frank Fukayama and colleagues make a case for solving the platform program with middleware... which sounds a lot like @gobo_social - a program that lets you filter and sort your feed by your own transparent criteria: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ ... Juan Carlos Girauta / @girautaoficial : “Internet platforms cause political harms that are far more alarming than any economic damage they create. Their real danger is not that they distort markets; it is that they threaten democracy.” By Francis Fukuyama et al. Via @cultrun https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ ... John Bergmayer / @bergmayer : ah yes, a convoluted and possibly unconstitutional proposal like this is easier than enforcing antitrust law. very astute https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ ... Barak Richman / @barakrichman : Our key idea: choose your own algorithm. I.e., invite a new group of competitive “middleware” companies to enable users to choose how information from the dominant platforms is presented to them. https://twitter.com/... @foreignaffairs : The power that Big Tech wields is a threat to democracy, argue @FukuyamaFrancis, @BarakRichman, and @ashishgoel. Confronting that threat will require breaking the firms' monopolistic control over political information. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ ... Thanks: @bigdata