The Role of Behavioural Economics in Shaping Remedies for Facebook’s Excessive Data Gathering

Abstract

Currently, users disregard the low level of privacy protection and allow excessive data gathering by dominant online platforms. In return, they receive personalised social-media services from such companies. However, the fault is not entirely with consumers. This article aims to identify the circumstances that support excessive data gathering and argues that gatekeepers both exploit several heuristics that lead to cognitive biases and take advantage of the asymmetries of power and information confronting consumers. This article highlights the shift from neoclassical to behavioural economics and claims that the latter offers a convincing account of the situation consumers face in digital markets. By framing the problem as the exploitation of users’ behaviours, remedies can be formulated for the problem in question.