“Information Fiduciaries” and News Media
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Background on the concept of “Information Fiduciaries” and How It Might Help Align The Interests of Tech Platforms and News Organizations
As many of you know, I’ve been doing a lot of work around and thinking about the interaction between Facebook and news organizations lately. In fairness, who hasn’t?
But I’ve recently stumbled upon a years-old concept from Jack Balkin and Jonathan Zittrain that seems supremely relevant and under-discussed: information fiduciaries.
The concept, first published on Balkin’s blog, and deeply developed in an article for the UC Davis Law Review, is best explained in an Atlantic piece from 2016. (Read the whole thing. It’s worth it. But I’ll excerpt key pieces here.)
The sub-head of the article asks: “Doctors and lawyers are prohibited from using clients’ information for their own interests, so why aren’t Google and Facebook?”
Some background: