The Commodification of Attention, Distrust & Resentment: a Threat to (Rawlsian) Justice

There is a growing body of scholarship on how AI technology can undermine democratic institutions. I present a novel contribution to this literature by accounting for how and why algorithms for engagement optimisation may undermine the necessary conditions for Rawlsian justice. For Rawls’s political theory, the ability to form bonds of trust with fellow citizens is an essential condition for citizens to develop their sense of justice, and their sense of justice is necessary for attaining justice. Recommendation algorithms may amplify the space given to hateful, violent, extremist, false, and discriminatory content, I argue. If this is the case, online social media content could undermine the development of mutual trust between citizens, which is necessary for a sense of justice. If citizens can only trust their like-minded members and distrust their fellow citizens, then the possibility of Rawlsian reciprocity in liberal society may not be realised. The lack of reciprocity is a concern as liberal political systems could be inherently unstable, given that affectionate ties needed for mutual cooperation may be undermined.