REPORT

What are the ethics behind ‘recommendations’?

Elliot Jones | Ada Lovelace Institute 
2022

As public service media organisations now match other media platforms and content providers in offering personalised recommendations on their apps and websites, what are the ethical concerns they need to consider when building these systems? This report from the Ada Lovelace Institute examines this question. The objectives of public service media are completely different to those of private entities – where the latter use personalisation as a tool of increasing engagement and monetisation, the former must use it to serve their principles of openness, accountability, and public service. They also need to be more transparent in how the recommendation systems themselves work.