Combating Misinformation Through Digital Markets

What if we could reduce the flow of misinformation with no censorship and no central authority judging truth? What role could modern digital marketplaces play in mitigating the promotion of false and misleading information online without harming free expression?

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media welcomes Visiting Scholar Marshall Van Alstyne to present his research on market interventions to combat misinformation, including a novel mechanism designed to create a meta-layer of platform governance that would limit the production of mis- and disinformation, and increase the likelihood of sharing credible information.

This intervention, informed by Nobel Prize-winning theories of information economics and externality economics, has shown very promising results in large online survey experiments and interactive online marketplace experiments, providing evidence of its efficacy among more than 3,000 responses from social media users.

This event will be held at the Berkman Klein Center (room 515) from 12:30pm-1:30pm ET. Lunch will be served! In-person attendance is limited to Harvard ID holders, but the general public is invited to attend virtually via Zoom.