Revelations about the misuse and insecurity of user data gathered by social media platforms have renewed discussions about how best to characterize property rights in user data. At the same time, revelations about the use of social media platforms to disseminate disinformation and hate speech have prompted debates over the need for government regulation to assure that these platforms serve the public interest. These debates often hinge on whether any of the established rationales for media regulation apply to social media. This paper argues that the public resource rationale that has been utilized in traditional media regulation in the U.S. applies to social media. The public resource rationale contends that, when a media outlet utilizes a public resource – such as the broadcast spectrum, or public rights of way – the outlet must abide by certain public interest obligations that may infringe upon its First Amendment rights. This paper argues that aggregate user data can be conceptualized as a public resource that triggers the application of a public interest regulatory framework to social media sites and other digital platforms that derive their revenue from the gathering, sharing, and monetization of massive aggregations of user data.

中文翻译：

---

用户数据作为公共资源：对社交媒体监管的启示

社交媒体平台收集的关于滥用和不安全用户数据的揭露，重新引发了关于如何最好地表征用户数据中财产权的讨论。同时，有关使用社交媒体平台传播虚假信息和仇恨言论的消息引发了关于政府监管以确保这些平台符合公共利益的必要性的辩论。这些辩论通常取决于是否有任何已建立的媒体监管理由适用于社交媒体。本文认为，在美国传统媒体监管中使用的公共资源原理适用于社交媒体。公共资源理论认为，当媒体渠道利用公共资源（例如广播频谱）时，或公共通行权–网点必须遵守某些可能侵犯其第一修正案权利的公共利益义务。本文认为，可以将聚集的用户数据概念化为一种公共资源，从而触发将公共利益监管框架应用于社交媒体网站和其他数字平台，这些平台从收集，共享和货币化大量用户数据的收入中获取收益。 。