Seeing the forest for the trees: Visualizing platformization and its governance. (September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Van Dijck, José
• Is Part Of: New media & society. Volume 23:Number 9(2021)
• Page Start: 2801
• Page End: 2819
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Subjects: Antitrust policy -- Big Tech -- data regulation -- digital infrastructures -- EU platform governance -- Internet governance -- platform economy -- tech companies; Mass media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Mass media and culture -- Periodicals; Information technology -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Internet -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302.2305
• DOI: 10.1177/1461444820940293
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-4448

Abstract

The complexities of platforms are increasingly at odds with the narrow legal and economic concepts in which their governance is grounded. This article aims to analyze platformization through the metaphorical lens of a tree to make sense of information ecosystems as hierarchical and interdependent structures. The layered shape of the tree draws attention to the dynamics of power concentration: vertical integration, infrastructuralization, and cross-sectorization. Next, the metaphor helps to revision the current patchwork of European regulatory frameworks, addressing the power asymmetry between citizens and the data-driven systems through which their daily practices are governed. Finally, the platformization tree serves to identify points of intervention that may inform European regulatory bodies and policy-makers to act as agents of change. Taking a holistic approach to platformization, this visual metaphor may inspire a set of principles that reshapes the platform ecosystem in the interest of society and the common good.