Markets of Misinformation

Name: Markets of Misinformation
Brand: NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
SKU: 9781997494003
Price: 47.99 AUD
Availability: InStock

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESSISBN: 9781997494003

Africa's opportunity to remake digital economies

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$47.99

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By Scott Timcke, Andrew Rens
Imprint: WITS UNIVERSITY PRESS
Release Date: May 2, 2027
Format: PAPERBACK
Dimensions: 229 x 152 mm
Weight:
Pages: 208

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Markets of Misinformation explores how power imbalances in Africa's digital spaces undermine development, equality, social trust and democratic participation. It analyses the connections between big tech platforms, profit-driven market incentives and the spread of information disorders - misinformation, disinformation and harmful content. At its core, the book argues that digital capitalism, which maximises economic value through data extraction, targeted advertising and user engagement, often erodes social value. Market pressures create structural weaknesses that fuel discrimination and deepen divisions. However, the book also suggests opportunities for harnessing technology's transformative power in order to strengthen social cohesion. Regulating global technology companies that often lack local presence remains a challenge and makes enforcement tricky in a borderless data economy. The book discusses these jurisdictional gaps and the need for better international frameworks at a time when emerging technologies that offer significant opportunities, such as machine learning and generative AI, pose new data governance risks. Ultimately, the book is a call to action. It urges readers to challenge dominant technology models and adopt alternative approaches to reshape digital markets and build a more equitable digital future for Africa.

Scott Timcke is a political economist and Research Associate at the Centre for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg and an affiliate of the Centre for Information, Techonology & Public Life at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of Algorithms and the End of Politics (2021) and The Political Economy of Fortune and Misfortune (2023). Andrew Rens is a technology law strategist with a doctorate from Duke University. His research focuses on AI and data governance in the political economies of Africa. He has been a fellow at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and the Internet Governance Lab at American University in Washington, DC.

Preface Introduction: When Markets Degrade Knowledge Part I Theory: Digital Capitalism and Epistemic Power Chapter 1 Misinformation as a Market Outcome Chapter 2 Media Systems, Platforms, and Epistemic Crisis Chapter 3 Digital Capitalism and Informational Harms Part II System: Data, Infrastructure, and Market Power Chapter 4 Datafication and the Political Economy of Extraction Chapter 5 Infrastructure, Platforms, and Market Power Part III Governance: Regulation and Public Value Chapter 6 The Limits of Contemporary Regulation Chapter 7 Building Coherent Digital Governance Part IV Strategy: Digital Industrial Policy and Democratic Futures Chapter 8 Instruments of Digital Industrial Policy Chapter 9 Strategy, Sovereignty, and the Future Conclusion Democracy, Power, and the Future of Information Order Appendix Bibliography Index

Markets of Misinformation

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