Award Abstract # 2217770
SaTC: Small: Core: Using Markets to Address Manipulated Information Online

Administratively Terminated Award
NSF Org: CNS
Division Of Computer and Network Systems
Recipient: TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date: July 26, 2022
Latest Amendment Date: May 16, 2025
Award Number: 2217770
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Jason D. Borenstein
jborenst@nsf.gov
 (703)292-4207
CNS
 Division Of Computer and Network Systems
CSE
 Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering
Start Date: October 1, 2022
End Date: April 18, 2025 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $550,000.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $672,287.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2022 = $550,000.00
FY 2023 = $104,087.00

FY 2024 = $18,200.00
History of Investigator:
  • Marshall Van Alstyne (Principal Investigator)
    mva@bu.edu
  • Ran Canetti (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Mayank Varia (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Trustees of Boston University
1 SILBER WAY
BOSTON
MA  US  02215-1703
(617)353-4365
Sponsor Congressional District: 07
Primary Place of Performance: Trustees of Boston University
595 Commonwealth Ave
Boston
MA  US  02215-1300
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
07
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): THL6A6JLE1S7
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): Information Technology Researc,
Special Projects - CNS,
Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace
Primary Program Source: 01002223DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01002425DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

01AB2324DB R&RA DRSA DEFC AAB

01002324DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 065Z, 7923, 7434, 025Z, 9251, 9178
Program Element Code(s): 164000, 171400, 806000
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.070, 47.075

ABSTRACT

Societies function poorly without free speech. They also function poorly when members cannot agree on basic facts. This research seeks to discover technology-aided social structures that minimize the adverse impact of confusion about facts while promoting free speech. To accomplish these goals, the project develops, prototypes, and tests market mechanisms to dissuade sources of information from dissembling, to decentralize detection of false claims, and to change the incentive structure under which producing false claims is cheaper than producing honest news. It also seeks to decentralize governance so that no single party, neither a government nor a private firm, has content moderation authority. Finally, it provides a principled basis for updating Internet and media law concerning platform liability exemptions for user-generated content.

The proposed mechanism extends established economic theories of signaling and screening that allow authors to credibly signal information regarding the veracity of their claims while helping recipients believe which claims are honest. This mechanism puts the burden of proof on the author, in contrast to extant mechanisms that put the burden of proof on the recipients of information or on the platform. Testing is accomplished in a laboratory setting, using randomized control trials, the gold standard for establishing causality. Experimentation tests, for example, whether more honest candidates are more likely to win a tournament and whether more honest firms can sell more products. The claims made by authors will be decentralized. Based on market design principles, the detection and the adjudication of false claims will also be decentralized. Security, privacy, and anonymity is proposed to be enforced by technology advances in the developed system.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Little, Ryan and Qin, Lucy and Varia, Mayank "Secure Account Recovery for a Privacy-Preserving Web Service" , 2024 Citation Details
Van_Alstyne, Marshall "Free Speech vs. Free Ride: Navigating the Supreme Courts Social Media Paradox" Communications of the ACM , v.67 , 2024 https://doi.org/10.1145/3696194 Citation Details

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