Social media platforms as public trustees: an approach to the disinformation problem

Abstract

This chapter explores the public trustee concept as a relevant governance framework for social media platforms, with a specific focus on disinformation and the U.S. context. Specifically, this chapter considers whether the public trustee governance model that applies to broadcasting in might be applicable in the social media context; and whether the type of disinformation-related regulations that have accompanied this public trustee model might therefore be feasible within the social media context as well. This chapter argues that, just as broadcasters are characterized as public trustees of the broadcast spectrum, so too could social media platforms be characterized as public trustees of the aggregations of user data that serve as the foundation for their business model. In making this argument, this chapter explores the distinctive characteristics of aggregate user data, and how a collective ownership model may represent the best path forward for resolving ongoing debates regarding property rights in user data. Thus, this chapter concludes that a regulatory framework that includes public interest obligations related to the dissemination of disinformation may be applicable in the social media context