TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING, CONTROLLING ALGORITHMS AND TARGETED ADVERTISING: THE LEADS OF THE BRONNER REPORT.
The mission of the Bronner report submitted on 11 January 2022 was to make recommendations relating to the deregulation of the online information market and in particular the circulation of false information.
The Bronner Commission's work insists on many points that are already covered by legislative texts that have been completed or are under development, but is distinguished by its recommendations relating to the control of algorithmic logic and to the drying up of the financing of certain websites via targeted advertising as well as its recommendations calling for critical thinking training in order to protect against online disinformation.
Launched by the President of the Republic, the commission” Enlightenment in the Digital Age ” was tasked with formulating recommendations relating to the deregulation of the online information market, it submitted its report on 11 January 2022.
The work of the commission was directed by the sociologist Gérald Bronner. The latter has long been committed to underlining the risks induced by the interaction of developments in the Internet age with the cognitive psychological mechanisms of the human brain, especially in the field of disinformation.1.
The Bronner Commission report therefore first of all presents an analysis of the psychosocial mechanisms of disinformation and explains that the saturated state of the online information market is putting a strain on our capacity for epistemic vigilance. Indeed, the number of content we are confronted with is such that we do not make us more permeable to false information. In addition, although false information is a minority among all news content on the Web, its virality is multiplied since content that causes a feeling of panic or revolt is very likely to attract the attention of Internet users.2.
Finally, the structure of online information and in particular the” Shares ” of content made possible by social networks accentuate our propensity to believe false information, since numerous studies show that the more information - whether true or false - is repeated to an individual, the more the latter will tend to believe it true.3.
Following the publication of this report, the President of the Republic announced the launch of a series of projects aimed at” Make France a pioneer country in the fight against disinformation and the regulation of major platforms ”. The various projects will focus in particular on (1) strengthening critical thinking education, (2) intensifying research on disinformation phenomena, (3) controlling the financing of actors who harm information and (4) increasing pressure on online platforms.4.
The report5 submitted by the Bronner Commission details various recommendations in the continuity of actions already undertaken at the international and national level (I) but is distinguished by its proposals relating to the control of algorithmic logic and the control of the financing of certain websites via targeted advertising (II) as well as its recommendations relating to critical thinking training (III).
I) Recommendations in the continuity of actions already undertaken.
The Bronner report recommends several measures in line with actions taken at national and European level in order to fight hate on social networks and regulate major online platforms. At the national level, it is possible to cite the law against information manipulation, the law known as” Avia ” against hateful content, or the law reinforcing respect for the principles of the republic. At the European level, the draft Digital Services Act regulation, adopted by the European Parliament in December 2021, is intended to be horizontal legislation introducing content moderation obligations for platforms.
The most notable proposals concern the strengthening of the supervisory powers of ARCOM (former CSA). The report suggests the creation of a formalized reporting procedure open to all citizens, similar to the procedure for reporting audiovisual content. It is therefore proposed to modify Article 17-2 of Law No. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 so that ARCOM can” be contacted by any person who has encountered a difficulty in obtaining the intervention and cooperation of a platform in order to prevent or stop the massive dissemination of content likely to convey false news that may disturb public order ”6. This reporting procedure is commendable, however, unlike the distribution of audiovisual content on television channels or radio, which is in essence limited, the dissemination of false information on platforms is unlimited. Under these conditions, the hypothesis of saturation of ARCOM in the face of an excessive influx of reports should not be overlooked.
In addition, the Bronner report proposes mobilizing the civil liability of people who knowingly spread fake news.7. The flexibility of the foundation should allow that
” The civil judge takes into account two variables in order to proportionate its penalty: that of the virality of the broadcast and that of the relative influence of the person who broadcasts or relays the offending broadcast ” (Rapp. p. 81).
At present, such a provision has never been envisaged. While the effectiveness of civil liability is not contested, it is reasonable to believe that the volume and speed of sharing fake news will not make it possible to bring all of its authors before a judge.
Thus, given the particular structure of the Internet, many traditional methods of prevention and punishment seem difficult to apply. This observation prompted the authors of the Bronner report to look at other innovative ways to combat online disinformation.
II) Innovative recommendations on the control of algorithmic logic and targeted advertising.
The Bronner Commission first takes stock of the flow of online news exchanges and notes that if there is indeed one unfulfilled promise of the Internet, it is that of the qualitative expansion of supply as well as of demand. Indeed, the observation of the exchange of news feeds online reveals that the cognitive market there is animated by brief, sudden and massive attention-concentration effects, commonly referred to as” buzz ”. As a result, on the Internet, competition is raging for how fleeting attention and the attraction that we can collectively have for a subject.
Faced with this observation, the Bronner report recommends regulating the design of the algorithmic logics that govern the organization of online information. In particular, the Bronner Commission suggests allowing users to better understand the real prevalence of opinions by deactivating by default the popularity metrics of posts on social networks (e.g. likes) while putting forward metrics that make it possible to judge the epistemic quality of content (e.g. sharing histories). It is also recommended to encourage platforms to pay more particular attention to the moderation of posts published by influencers whose visibility may exceed their representativeness on certain topics.8.
The Bronner report also discusses the subject of” Dark Patterns ” present on digital interfaces, which are ways of manipulating or deceiving users and capturing their attention in order to make a profit. In the wake of numerous studies initiated in recent years, partly taken up by the proposed Digital Service Act regulation, the Bronner report insists on the importance of considering the logic that guides the design of digital interfaces.9.
Finally, the Bronner Commission discusses a subject that is still largely unrelated to the dissemination of false information online: programmatic advertising. This type of advertising uses algorithms generated by artificial intelligence in order to determine the best advertising location by type of products and target audience through a real-time auction system. At present, programmatic advertising providers are invited to communicate to the advertiser
” all measures implemented [...] to avoid the distribution of advertising messages on illicit media or in broadcast environments marked by the advertiser as being harmful to the image of its brand and its reputation ”10.
However, nothing requires them to provide an exhaustive list of the sites on which their advertisements may be found.
However, the Bronner report notes that it has emerged several years ago that programmatic advertising is frequently found on sites that notoriously and often repeatedly propagate disinformation that is characterized and likely to disturb public order. The report therefore recommends empowering programmatic advertising actors by encouraging the use of exclusion and inclusion lists on websites, such as those developed by NewsGuard or Global Disinformation Index, in order to dry up the funding of disinformation sites.11.
III) The postulate of the systematization of critical thinking teaching.
Finally, the Bronner Commission report proposes solutions beyond the law, which alone does not seem to be sufficient to stem the phenomenon of the spread of false information online. According to the report, cognitive alertness and the development of the analytical mind of each individual are probably the best individual defences against the spread of false information. Every human being would have the resources to avoid falling into the trap of misinformation and reasoning errors.
The Bronner report is cautious about making concrete recommendations on the method to adopt in order to teach critical thinking to the youngest, who are probably aware of the crucial ethical and political issues associated with it. However, the recommendations recommend mandating an organization whose aim would be to gather existing data, to design standardized protocols and to set up the evaluation of teaching materials and training systems, as well as to solicit the experience of teachers on this subject.12.
In addition, the Bronner Commission considers it appropriate to systematize and homogenize the teaching of Media and Information Education (EMI) enshrined in the Orientation Law for the Refoundation of the School of 8 July 2013. Currently, only primary and secondary school students benefit from this education, which the Bronner report proposes to extend to universities, the cultural world and business.13.
This aspect of the report submitted to the President of the Republic seems to have received all the attention of the latter, who cited the strengthening of critical thinking as the first of the various projects that were launched following the submission of the Bronner Commission's work. It is therefore important to remain attentive to the next developments that will result from it.
Link to the article published on Village Justice.
[1] See for example Gérald Bronner, La Démocratie des Crédules, Paris, PUF, 2013.
[2] See e.g. CSA (2020). The spread of false information on social networks: a study of the Twitter platformhttps://www.csa.fr/Informer/Collections-du-CSA/Focus-Toutes-les-etudes-et-les-comptes-rendus-synthetiques-proposant-un-zoom-sur-un-sujet-d-actualite/La-propagation-des-fausses-informations-sur-les-reseaux-sociaux-etude-de-la-plateforme-Twitter
[3] For a meta-analysis of these studies, see Dechêne, A., A., Stahl, C., Hansen, J., and Wänke, M. (2010). The truth about the truth: A meta-analytic review of the truth effect. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14 (2), 238-257.
[4]https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2022/01/11/remise-du-rapport-de-la-commission-bronner
[6] Rapp., recomm. 19, p. 84.
[7] Rapp., recomm. 18., p.82.
[8] Rapp., recomm. 4, 5 and 6, pp. 50 and 51.
[9] Rapp., recomm. 2, p.46.
[10] Article 3 of Decree No. 2017-159 of February 9, 2017 relating to digital advertising services.
[11] Rapp., recomm. 8, p. 109.
[12] Rapp., recomm. 24 and 25, p. 93.
[13] Rapp., recomm. 27 and 29, pp. 97 and 98.