The Demand for Bullshit Under American and European Law
Lila Greenberg¹, Julie Wittenberg¹, Jane Bambauer²
DOI : 10.65701/s3x8k1n6r4
Corresponding authors:
lilagreenberg@ufl.edu • janebambauer@ufl.edu
Abstract
Our information environment is saturated with bullshit—not just fake news and disinformation, but also low-quality, ideologically slanted content that encourages lazy thinking. While critics often blame content creators or platforms, the real problem lies on the demand side: audiences seek out confirmatory content, pressuring media to cater to their biases. Current legal interventions, whether European-style regulation or U.S. attempts to limit youth exposure, miss this point and risk backfiring. This article argues that supply-side interventions will be ineffective or counterproductive, potentially increasing distrust and extremism. Instead, we propose two demand-side approaches: (1) treating media as a vice product requiring regulation, and (2) fostering critical thinking skills to reduce susceptibility to demagoguery. Both face implementation challenges—Americans need better education in logical rea-soning, while Europeans may focus too heavily on their existing supply-side regulations—but offer more promising paths forward than current policy approaches.
