User‐Generated Content, Social Media Bias, and Slant Regulation

ABSTRACT This paper examines the impact of regulatory policies on mitigating media bias in a duopolistic media market where traditional and online formats coexist. The findings demonstrate that introducing a welfare‐maximizing unbiased media outlet reduces media bias and lowers subscription fees, as long as the data source is accurate, whereas a profit‐maximizing unbiased media outlet fails to achieve the same outcome. These insights contribute to ongoing policy discussions on fact‐checking, fact‐reporting, and policies regulating social media.