Abstract

Two key problems afflict everyone in America—and for ten years, they have haunted our daily lives, and the daily news. First, Americans have no choice in whether algorithms are applied to their search engines and social media feeds. Nothing requires internet services or applications to allow consumers to easily “turn off” these algorithms that are used to profile and target us. And second, Americans don’t understand how these algorithms affect the lives they live increasingly online. Researcher access to social media company data has helped shed light on how these algorithms work—but the companies routinely limit or terminate access to the type of data that could help explain the effects of algorithms on society. Not only that: but the companies that use these algorithms to maximize their profit both decline to disclose information about their algorithms citing “trade secrets,” and often the companies cite a “black box problem”—that is, not even their computer programmers can explain exactly why the algorithms radicalize Americans, drive some to commit suicide, or cause any of the other harms that are so obviously caused by the mechanisms of our online world.

But some want to do nothing to change the status quo. They think this unchecked manipulation of and denial of choice to the American public, and keeping these algorithms and their machinations under the lock and key of social media companies and big tech businesses, is “good enough” for Americans. In spring 2023, Elon Musk’s Twitter decided to lift a prior ban and enable Twitter to again algorithmically promote Kremlin-, China-, and Iran-controlled state media to its over 350 million users—including millions of Americans. The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab summed it up: “Twitter users no longer must actively seek out state-sponsored content in order to see it on the platform; it can just be served to them,” that is, “amplified” by Twitter’s algorithm, “as a way to help [the accounts] reach bigger audiences.” And while Facebook has temporarily adjusted its algorithms from time to time in response to elections and other events to dial-back the feeding of extreme content to users, the site invariably turns the algorithms back on.

We have waited long enough. Things need to change.

How to Cite:

Brian K. Keller, Empowering Everyday Americans: The Algorithmic Choice and Transparency Act (The "ACT Act"), 7 Ariz. L. J. Emerging Tech., no. 7, 2024, https://doi.org/10.2458/azlawjet.6400