When Curation Becomes Creation: Algorithms, Microcontent, and the
Vanishing Distinction between Platforms and Creators
- URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2107.00441v1
- Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2021 13:37:05 GMT
- Title: When Curation Becomes Creation: Algorithms, Microcontent, and the
Vanishing Distinction between Platforms and Creators
- Authors: Liu Leqi, Dylan Hadfield-Menell, Zachary C. Lipton
- Abstract summary: We argue that any coherent regulatory framework must adapt to the modern social media landscape.
We argue that any coherent regulatory framework must adapt to this reality.
- Score: 30.71023908707896
- License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
- Abstract: Ever since social activity on the Internet began migrating from the wilds of
the open web to the walled gardens erected by so-called platforms, debates have
raged about the responsibilities that these platforms ought to bear. And yet,
despite intense scrutiny from the news media and grassroots movements of
outraged users, platforms continue to operate, from a legal standpoint, on the
friendliest terms. Under the current regulatory framework, platforms
simultaneously benefit from: (1) broad discretion to organize (and censor)
content however they choose; (2) powerful algorithms for curating a practically
limitless supply of user-posted microcontent according to whatever ends they
wish; and (3) absolution from the sorts of liability born by creators of the
underlying content. In this paper, we contest the very validity of the
platform-creator distinction, arguing that it is ill-adapted to the modern
social media landscape where, in a real sense, platforms are creating
derivative media products. We argue that any coherent regulatory framework must
adapt to this reality, recognizing the subtle continuum of activities that span
the curation-creation spectrum, providing a finer system of categorization and
clearer guidance for precisely when platforms assume the responsibilities
associated with content creation.
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