Abstract
In his book, Regulating Platforms, Terry Flew examines the conceptualization and evolution of platforms and argues for a critical focus on platform governance and regulation. He frames his proposition on the three “I” conceptual model, stating that the development and governance of digital platforms reflect the intersection of ideas, interests, and institutions. Ideas signify prominent and contested thoughts. Interests involve power relations in various domains. Institutions represent organizational structures facilitating collective decision-making.
The book has seven chapters. In Chapter 1, the author traces the early development of the Internet, influenced by the Californian Ideology—a belief system originating in Silicon Valley during the mid-1990s that underscores the impact of technology on individualism and free-market capitalism. The chapter also highlights the monopolistic practices by technology giants that resulted in platformization, underlining the organizational nature and external governance of digital platforms. In the second and third chapters, the author examines the platformization of the Internet and its regulatory implications, addressing issues such as data privacy, fake news, and algorithmic governance. He suggests that addressing these challenges demands solutions that prioritize public interest, and may require rethinking of large platforms as public utilities, similar to the implementation and governance of electricity and railways in the industrial economy. He also underlines the need to develop regulatory approaches that consider both economic and communicative outcomes of digital platforms while determining who governs and better support public interest.
The subsequent four chapters present case studies to better unpack the complexities of platform governance. The author draws from the platform governance triangle (Gorwa, 2019) to demonstrate three frameworks of platform governance: self-governance; external governance; and co-governance. These chapters also highlight the growing attempts by nation-states, both democratic and authoritarian (e.g., China), and supranational entities such as the European Union, to regulate digital platforms’ power across communicative, economic, and political dimensions. Identifying current approaches as experimental and occasionally incoherent, the author argues that platform governance should be driven by governmental counterbalance and favoring public interest in the digital realm.
Overall, this book offers a critical lens for understanding platform governance and regulation. Scholars and students who are interested in examining platformization would benefit from reading this insightful work. As a notable contribution to the field of mobile media and platform studies, it attempts to move beyond a Western-centric view and highlights the fragmentation of platform governance as illuminated in the case studies covered across several chapters. Furthermore, it also prompts readers to pay close attention to the ideological conflicts shaping the processes and outcomes of regulating platforms. Indeed, by emphasizing the need for a critical analysis of the role played by multiple systems and actors in platform governance, the book serves as a valuable entry point for understanding the possibilities and politics of integrating platforms in an increasingly interconnected society.