The Corruption of Information: Tech, Media and Truth in the Age of AI
摘要
Choosing Facebook as an illustrative example of what is referred to in this chapter as the 6th Estate in order to distinguish it conceptually from the 4th and 5th Estates, the primary objective of the Section “What Is Facebook’s Professional and Institutional Role?” of the chapter is to examine if digital information created, disseminated and mediated increasingly via the Big Tech companies such as Facebook and Google, are also subject to those same normative principles as the 4th and 5th Estates. Having established that Facebook, as an illustrative example, is in essence a media company, Section “Role Morality” of the chapter will demonstrate, on the basis of the Dual Obligation Information Theory (DOIT) and the DOIT-Wisdom model that Facebook and Google, among other tech media companies are also subject to the same normative principles and requirements that other media companies of the 4th and 5th Estates, are. Section “Facebook’s Primary Role” of the chapter will examine if Facebook’s role in the Cambridge Analytica case not only violated the fundamental normative principles and requirements to which all media companies are subject, but moreover, its actions constituted media corruption. More generally, Facebook’s media corruption as illustrated in the Cambridge Analytica case, relates to a conflict of interest emanating from its Business Model that in its design and practice is conducive to systemic media corruption.