Seminar

Past

Perverse Ethical Concerns: Online Misinformation and Offline Conflicts

Allen Vong

  • Date11 January 2022
  • Time 14h00 - 15h00
  • Room Zoom Meeting

Abstract

We study a model where a large number of citizens learn a hidden state individually on an online platform. The platform receives news reports about the state and imperfectly filters misinformation in the reports, triggering conflicts about the value of the state among the citizens. We show that a platform that faces an ethical concern to internalize conflict costs due to misinformation could perversely aggravate conflicts. This cautionary observation highlights that societal efforts to mitigate conflicts, such as investments in ethical algorithm, public awareness campaigns, and government policies, are effective if and only if their implementations are sufficiently aggressive.

Related document(s)

Other seminars

Past

Decoding Rankings: Consumer Search, Price Competition, and Platform Regulation

  • Seminar

  • Economics of Platforms Seminar

  • Date 1 October 2026

  • Place Zoom

  • Speaker or organiser Hanlin Zhao

Details

Past

Impressing the Algorithm

  • Seminar

  • Economics of Platforms Seminar

  • Date 3 September 2026

  • Place Online

  • Speaker or organiser Sandro Shelegia (University of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona)

Details

Past

The Impact of Google AI Overviews on Publisher Traffic and User Experience: Evidence from a Field Experiment

  • Seminar

  • Economics of Platforms Seminar

  • Date 2 July 2026

  • Place Online

  • Speaker or organiser Saharsh Agarwal (Indian School of Business)

Details