Algorithmic governance and the need for consumer empowerment in data-driven markets

Abstract:
The present article argues that the fact that personal data holds great value, in combination with a lack of transparency in its commercial use, leads to a need for consumer policy that strengthens consumer protection. The widespread practice of user agreements and consent-based regulation of personal data collection is not satisfactory for balancing these information-asymmetric markets. The lack of transparency deriving from the complex and massive datafication of consumers – where consumers are profiled, data is brokered and the algorithmically automated decision-making is opaque – speaks to the need for improved supervision at a more structural level above and beyond the individual consumer’s choices, preferably by more active consumer protection authorities.

The present article argues that the fact that personal data holds great value, in combination with a lack of transparency in its commercial use, leads to a need for consumer policy that strengthens consumer protection. The widespread practice of user agreements and consent-based regulation of personal data collection is not satisfactory for balancing these information-asymmetric markets. The lack of transparency deriving from the complex and massive datafication of consumers – where consumers are profiled, data is brokered and the algorithmically automated decision-making is opaque – speaks to the need for improved supervision at a more structural level above and beyond the individual consumer’s choices, preferably by more active consumer protection authorities.