In the USA 41 States and the District of Columbia are suing Meta, specifically in respect of Facebook and Instagram. The allegation is these Apps are engaged in a “scheme to exploit young users for profit”.

Mariana Mazzucato and Ilan Strauss have written an elegant piece which addresses the core of the complaint before the court. As they put it

“Deploying algorithms to maximize user engagement is how Big Tech maximizes shareholder value, with short-term profits often overriding longer-term business objectives, not to mention societal health……. “

But the problem is

“algorithms built on “bad metrics” foster “bad incentives” and enable “bad actors.”

Later on we are introduced to the notion of “algorithmic attention rents”  meaning the revenues derived largely from the passive ownership of a platform.

The authors believe

“Creating a digital environment that rewards value creation from innovation, and punishes value extraction from rents (especially in core digital markets), is the fundamental economic challenge of our time.”

Who knew?  Yet it grows out of the huge market dominance, near monopoly status various online businesses have managed to establish.

They cite Cory Doctorow’s now famous/infamous cyber-aphorism

“ The enshittification” (of the internet)  comes out of the barrel of an algorithm”

adding that certain algorithms

“may, in turn, rely on illegal data collection and sharing practices”.

Mazzucato and Strauss go on to say AI is already “supercharging algorithmic recommendations, making them even more addictive, there is (therefore) an urgent need for new governance structures oriented toward the “common good”.

The authors do not believe Meta’s forthcoming trial can undo past mistakes but

“…as we prepare for the next generation of AI products, we must establish proper algorithmic oversight. AI-powered algorithms will influence not just what we consume, but how we produce and create; not just what we choose, but what we think. We must not get this wrong.”

Quite.