Other side of the coin: is it Google/Facebook/Twitter's responsibility to eliminate spam? Because that's what a lot of output of "news" organizations is these days... one might say it's very close to propoganda. What about safe-browsing filters?
To shape your users' traffic - is that not exactly what's occurring? The question is whether they're doing it on our behalf, or for their own ends (and what happens when those two align?)
The hypothetical you pose is not nearly so cut and dry - in fact, I argue it's happening now, but it just so happens in more cases than not, that it aligns with what users want. Just take a look at the Facebook "trending" issue.
To shape your users' traffic - is that not exactly what's occurring? The question is whether they're doing it on our behalf, or for their own ends (and what happens when those two align?)
The hypothetical you pose is not nearly so cut and dry - in fact, I argue it's happening now, but it just so happens in more cases than not, that it aligns with what users want. Just take a look at the Facebook "trending" issue.