The Prospect Podcast Cass Sunstein: How corporations are manipulating us
Sep 24, 2025
Cass Sunstein, a prominent legal scholar and founder of Harvard's Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy, reveals how corporations exploit our cognitive biases for profit. He defines manipulation, illustrating with examples like hidden fees and deepfakes. Discussing the pervasive influence of technology, Cass warns that personalized algorithms often operate invisibly, making us unaware of the manipulation. He advocates for a legal right against manipulation, stressing the need for regulatory frameworks to safeguard consumers against harmful practices.
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What Manipulation Really Is
- Manipulation targets people's capacity for reflective and deliberative choice rather than just lying or coercion.
- New technologies amplify the ability to manipulate beyond historical levels of persuasion.
Everyday Examples Of Manipulation
- Sunstein lists everyday examples like hidden checkout add-ons and hard-to-cancel auto‑renewals as manipulative practices.
- He also names 'sludge' and manipulated media (like deepfakes) as concrete forms of manipulation.
How Nudge Differs From Manipulation
- Nudges steer choices while respecting people's goals and allow easy override.
- Not all nudges are manipulative; educative and architectural nudges can increase agency.
