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Dominant digital platforms today act as gatekeepers of user attention. This gives gatekeepers enormous power over their ecosystems of suppliers, who are reliant on how the platform will allocate user attention for their visibility.听
This research explores how a dominant platform allocates value algorithmically and how they might increase their share of value when they exploit patterns in user behaviour and their captive ecosystems听of suppliers and/or advertisers. This might involve the gatekeeper disregarding user preferences when it allocates user attention, ignoring the information content of their supplier ecosystems, promoting paid information over optimally relevant organic information, or manipulating user attention through subtle changes in the decision-making context of the platform.
Research
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- Ilan Strauss, Tim O鈥檙eilly, and Mariana Mazzucato,听Amazon鈥檚 Algorithmic Rents: The economics of information on Amazon, 15 Hastings听Sci. &听Tech. L.J. 203 (2024).听Available at:听
- O鈥橰eilly, Tim., Strauss, Ilan., and Mazzucato, Mariana. 2024.听 .听Data & Policy,听02 February 2024, Volume 6, 2024, e6.
- Strauss, I., O鈥橰eilly, T. and Mazzucato, M. (2023). Amazon鈥檚 Algorithmic Rents: The economics of information on Amazon. UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Working Paper Series (IIPP WP 2023-12)
- Rock, R., Strauss, I., O鈥橰eilly, T. and Mazzucato, M. (2023). Behind the Clicks: Can Amazon allocate user attention as it pleases? UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Working Paper Series (IIPP WP 2023-10).
- O鈥橰eilly, T., Strauss, I. and Mazzucato, M. (2023). Algorithmic Attention Rents: A theory of digital platform market power. UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Working Paper Series (IIPP WP 2023-10).
- Mariana Mazzucato, Ilan Strauss, Tim O鈥橰eilly, and Josh Ryan-Collins, 2023. , Oxford Review of Economic Policy.听Volume 39, Issue 1, Spring 2023, Pages 47鈥�69.
- Mariana Mazzucato, Marietje Schaake,听Seb Krier, Josh Entsminger, 2022.听Governing artificial intelligence in the public interest,听UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Working Paper Series (IIPP WP 2022/12)
- Mariana Mazzucato, Josh Ryan-Collins, Giorgos and Gouzoulis, 2020.听Theorising and Mapping Modern Economic Rents, UCL IIPP Working paper 2020/13听
In the press
- , in听Project Syndicate's Quarterly Issue Profit and Peril, Mariana Mazzucato and Fausto Gernone, 11 March 2024.
- . Project Syndicate. Mariana Mazzucato and Ilan Strauss,听February听2024.
- . Financial Times. Interview with Tim听O'Reilly, November 2023.
- .听Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow. Working Paper review, November 2023.
- . Rockefeller Foundation.听Tim O'Reilly,听August, 2023.听
- .听Project Syndicate.听Gabriela Ramos and Mariana Mazzucato, December 2022.
- .听Project Syndicate.听Mariana Mazzucato, Rainer Kattel, Tim O'Reilly, and Josh Entsminger, February 2021.
- 鈥�. Danny In The Valley. Tim O鈥橰eilly, Dec 4, 2020. Apple Podcasts听
- . Tim O鈥橰eilly, Quartz. July, 2019.听
Events
1.听Algorithmic Rents research showcase,12 October 2023听in conversation with Mariana Mazzucato, Tim O鈥橰eilly and Ilan Strauss on Algorithmic Rents. Download here the showcase presentation slides.
2.听UCL IIPP听hosted an expert听workshop on听algorithmic听rents 听in October 2022听- To inform our research process investigating algorithmic attention rents, UCL IIPP听hosted an expert听workshop听in October 2022. Experts from the UK鈥檚 Competition and Markets Authority, Ofcom, and the Financial Conduct Authority joined academics to discuss IIPP鈥檚 latest digital economy research on 鈥榓lgorithmic rents': how algorithms distribute benefits through allocating users鈥� attention.
Our Supporter
Contact
Ilan Strauss,听Senior Research Associate at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP).
Email:听i.strauss@ucl.ac.uk
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