Platforms and Power: A Panel Discussion

Abstract

Background This article is based on a panel discussion at McMaster University in 2019.Analysis Five questions are posed: 1) What is pressing about research on platforms and power right now? 2) What is the most powerful example of a research design that could disrupt or transform platform power? 3) Can platforms and algorithms be liberating? 4) How can researchers and policymakers work together for change? 5) What regulatory futures should researchers attend to, and how can research contribute to platform regulation? Conclusions and implications Panel participants provide insights into the questions posed. Contexte Cet article se base sur une table ronde qui a eu lieu à l’Université McMaster en 2019.Analyse Cinq questions furent posées : 1) Qui a-t-il de plus pressant actuellement dans la recherche sur les plateformes et le pouvoir? 2) Quel est l’exemple le plus puissant d’un plan d’expérience qui pourrait ébranler ou transformer le pouvoir des plateformes? 3) Les plateformes et les algorithmes peuvent-ils être libérateurs? 4) Comment les chercheurs et les décideurs peuvent-ils collaborer pour encourager le changement? 5) Pour quels avenirs réglementaires les chercheurs devraient-ils se préparer, et comment la recherche peut-elle contribuer à améliorer la réglementation des plateformes?Conclusion et implications Les participants à la table ronde proposent diverses réponses aux cinq questions.

Rethinking Platform Power

“…I agree that as media and communication studies scholars critical of platforms and their power, we need to push back against the notion of platforms as liberatory. However, a utopian vision of platforms extends beyond more recent efforts by the tech industry to present digital platforms as democratizing (Bannerman et al, 2020;Gillespie, 2010). Instead, platforms have long been framed as necessary for a kind of empowerment; they are spaces and places to amplify one's voice, to have a speaking part in a narrative, and to display power-even in limited ways.…”

“…We see this too with the influx of feminist politics reliant on digital platforms, highlighted especially by the recent #MeToo movement (Banet Weiser, 2018;Mendes, Ringrose, & Keller, 2018). Many communications theorists, including the "Platforms and Power" panelists, have been critical of the notion that social media platforms are democratizing (Bannerman et al, 2020;Carpentier, 2016;Casemajor, Couture, Delfin, Goerzen, & Delfanti, 2015;Gillespie, 2010;Taylor, 2012). I use the historical example of the soapbox, however, to suggest that it is not merely that platform firms simultaneously sell and limit the democratic potential of digital platforms but rather that the logics of platforms are long-standing.…”

“…The relationship between platforms and power is becoming an increasingly important area of study across media and communication studies. Indeed, it was the focus of "Platforms and Power: A Panel Discussion" (Bannerman, Baade, Bivens, Shade, Shepherd, & Zeffiro, 2020) published in the Canadian Journal of Communications in 2020. In this response to "Platforms and Power," I offer my own answer to a question originally posed to the panel: "what is pressing or timely about research on platforms and power right now?"…”