From Traffic to Value: Balancing Ethics and Commercialization in Digital Media Platforms

Abstract

This study addresses the enduring conflict of digital media platforms regarding their societal worth versus commercial requirements, suggesting a shift from traffic-driven models to value-driven ones. The current media environment evolves towards systems of attention commodification, where engagement and interaction are prioritised over content quality and social value. The analysis shows how the traffic paradigm creates a self-sustaining system that diminishes substantive value creation and prioritises value-destroying attention capture strategies. This model of commercialisation causes challenges that go far beyond what traditional regulatory approaches can solve—these require novel governance innovations. This study focuses on emerging governance innovations such as coregulation, multilevel governance, algorithmic accountability, and new data stewardship frameworks. The proposed value-centric platform economics shifts the paradigm for defining success from engagement metrics toward redefined societal benefits, aligning financial goals with social good and enabling more legitimate governance. This change demands an integrated shift in regulatory frameworks, platform design, commercial strategies, and governance systems towards building sustainable digital media ecosystems that balance public interest with market forces.