On Asymmetric Power and Fiduciary Responsibility

Why the Design of Social Media is a Deeply Philosophic Question

This piece covers the asymmetry of power between the creators and users of social media, and the implications of the fiduciary responsibility that follows from this asymmetry. Responding well to these implications might be the most important challenge of our time.

A planetary scale problem and question. Photo by Matteo Fusco on Unsplash

“When most people in society use your product, you aren’t just designing users, you’re designing society.” James Williams

When designing social media technology that is used by billions of people, one is deeply influencing human psychology and behavior at large.

There is an asymmetric power relationship between the people designing and the people populating these social worlds.

Your psychologist, lawyer, and doctor each know more about the workings of the psyche, the law, and the workings of the human body respectively. This means to an asymmetry in power, which led to the moral and legal responsibility that came to be called fiduciary responsibility.

Because they have a certain kind of power over you, they are obliged to act in your best interest.