Platformized Societies – Meaning, Opportunities, and Threats
Changes in the economic and social structures of modern societies have seen the emergence of new platforms for business and socializing. The concept of a platform society has emerged from this trend and it refers to the use of digital markets to complete transactions or foster social engagements. The concept of the platform society is contested because researchers have varied limits of accepting the above description. Nonetheless, globally, five technology companies dominate the digital market space and dominate traffic across major internet platforms. They include Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft. Collectively, they have the power to shape the geopolitical landscape of human populations through their controls on information exchange and discussions that occur on their platforms. Jointly, these tech companies have billions of users, which means they control knowledge flow to a degree. This extensive power attracts concerns from skeptics who highlight the potential for information manipulation and censorship Continue reading