This course will focus on the business models underpinning modern internet platforms and the public concerns they have raised given such harrowing incidents as the proliferation of Russian disinformation, the spread of hateful messages inciting the violence in Myanmar, and the radicalization of youth toward extreme political views in Brazil. Class sessions will address the economics underlying consumer internet platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter; the commercialization of algorithmic decision-making by the internet industry; the emergence of such negative externalities as the...