Is users rating becoming overpowering? The risks of inappropriate use of digital feedback

Archibugi, Daniele and Tosoni, N. (2023) Is users rating becoming overpowering? The risks of inappropriate use of digital feedback. Working Paper. CIMR, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK.

Abstract

Digital technologies have made it easy to generate and disseminate feedback on the performance of products and services. This technological advance has contributed significantly to reducing the information asymmetries between producers and consumers, between suppliers of public goods and users, and between politicians and citizens. It would seem that Web 2.0 has enhanced the effectiveness of the "voice" evoked by Albert Hirschman in the 1970s. However, is there a risk that the feedback provided and the connected numerical evaluation, the so-called rating, may become too invasive, so much as to constitute a concrete threat to the confidentiality of individual data? We propose to distinguish between three types of feedback: 1) bottom-up feedback, which occurs when many individuals evaluate and comment on the performance of economic and political organizations; 2) the transversal one, which happens when a series of individuals, in the same hierarchical position, exchange comments, appreciations and reciprocal evaluations; 3) the top-down one, which arises when organizations assign a rating to individuals. Based on our analysis, we also offer some suggestions to moderate the already existing risks.

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