The Age of Disinformation: The Role of Market Power in Information Space
15 Pages Posted: 18 Nov 2021 Last revised: 18 Jan 2024
Date Written: January 17, 2024
Abstract
It is a commonplace saying that we live in an age of disinformation, in a “post-truth” world, one of secrets and lies. And as revealed by periodic leaks by whistleblowers and eventual declassification of government-held information, there is “dark matter” in our knowledge universe just as there is dark matter and dark energy in the physical universe – unobserved quanta whose physical presence can only be inferred by their influence on the observed physical universe. This raises the question of how to detect the presence of such dark matter in our knowledge universe. The thesis of this paper is that basic economic logic implies that the extent of deceit varies with the stakes and with what might be termed “market power” in information space. As a corollary, disinformation likely follows a power law distribution. This provides a market-based explanation for the general validity of the aphorism that “honesty is the best policy” in day-to-day affairs, yet the effectiveness of the “big lie” technique. Testimony to the market power of governments in information space is the harshness of the punishment meted out to those who blow the whistle on governments, as compared to the rewards handed out by governments to those who blow the whistle on corporations where governments have an interest in disciplining corruption.
Keywords: secrets, lies, disinformation, information society, narratives, market power in information space
JEL Classification: Z13
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation