Webinar: Algorithmic Rents: How Big Tech Platforms Control Attention and Shape Markets

Webinar Overview

This insightful webinar explored the profound influence of Big Tech platforms on global markets through their control over user attention. The event centered on a discussion of the concept of algorithmic attention rents, a theory developed by experts Tim O’Reilly, Ilan Strauss, and Mariana Mazzucato in their latest article published in Data & Policy. The theory explains how major digital platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon, leverage their scale and control over vast amounts of user attention to extract economic value from both users and suppliers.

About Speakers

  • Tim O’Reilly – Founder & CEO of O’Reilly Media. Known for coining terms like “open source software” and “Web 2.0,” O’Reilly has long been at the forefront of technology and digital culture. He emphasized the need for a new approach to antitrust regulation that takes into account the monopoly power of platforms in controlling attention and digital markets.
  • Mariana Mazzucato – Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). Mazzucato is a renowned economist known for her work on public sector innovation and market value creation. She stressed the importance of rethinking value creation in the digital economy and how platform dominance challenges existing regulatory frameworks.
  • Ilan Strauss – Senior Research Associate at UCL’s IIPP. Strauss focused on the economic mechanisms behind how platforms extract rents, particularly through advertising models and acquisitions that allow them to monopolize digital ecosystems.

Webinar Highlights

  • As digital platforms grow, they increasingly dominate user attention through their algorithms, extracting rents by monopolizing the online advertising space. This monetization of attention is at the core of their business models.
  • The conversation delved into how this attention-based economy distorts market competition and allows these platforms to shape entire industries by controlling the flow of information and resources.
  • The speakers proposed that effective regulation should focus on mandating transparency around how platforms measure and monetize user attention, ensuring accountability for how these metrics influence both users and the markets.

The event provided a critical forum for academics, policymakers, and industry experts to explore the economic and social ramifications of algorithmic control in the digital age, with a particular focus on the power dynamics shaping digital markets.

Related Materials

For those interested in understanding the intricate ways in which Big Tech platforms shape markets and user behavior, this webinar provided valuable insights into the challenges posed by their dominance and the path toward creating fairer digital economies.

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