During his January 11, 2017, press conference, President-elect Donald Trump berated reporter Jim Acosta and his employer, CNN, saying, “You are fake news.” For news organizations to question the validity of facts cited by politicians was nothing unusual, especially during an election year, but throughout the 2016 presidential election cycle, Trump turned that dynamic on its head through his confrontations with CNN and other news organizations. These exchanges sparked a debate about the responsibility of Google, Facebook, and other Internet-based companies to identify websites spreading fake news. Google offers an interesting case study on value maximization and corporate ethics. In 2004, Google’s founders provided “An Owner’s Manual” for shareholders, which stated that “Google is not a conventional company” and that the company’s ultimate goal “is to develop services that significantly improve the lives of as many people as possible.” The founders stressed that running a successful business is not enough; they also want Google to make the world a better place. In light of that objective, what responsibility did Google have in helping voters distinguish real news from fake news? Just 1 month before the election, Google introduced a new “fact-check tag,” to help readers assess the validity of news stories they were reading online. In subsequent months, Google introduced the fact check tag to markets in other countries where elections were taking place, and
it began new initiatives such as “Cross- Check,” an effort to combine the work of human fact checkers with computer algorithms to identify fake news stories in France during its election cycle. Google’s famous corporate motto, “Don’t Be Evil,” is intended to convey a willingness to do the right thing even at the cost of sacrifice in the short run. Google’s approach does not appear to be limiting its ability to maximize value, as the company’s share price increased almost 1200% from 2004 to 2017!

1. Is the goal of maximizing shareholder wealth necessarily ethical or unethical?

2. What responsibility, if any, does Google have in helping users assess the veracity of content they read online?