Platforms and power Archives - 360

Use + Remix

The platforms billions of us use have amassed enormous power. : Michael Joiner, 360info

Backgrounder: 529 words

360info investigates how today’s platforms are driving inequality and how both regulation and new technologies might shape the future web, for better or worse.

6 perspectives

Platforms and power

360info investigates how today’s platforms are driving inequality and how both regulation and new technologies might shape the future web, for better or worse.

EU Vice-President Margrethe Vestager has identified some of the new changes that ever-growing Big Tech companies present. (Picture: David Fitzgerald/Web Summit via Sportsfile, Flickr. CC BY 2.0 https://bit.ly/3ln7AVn) : David Fitzgerald/Web Summit via Sportsfile, Flickr.

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act is a bold, innovative attempt to do what no power has successfully done: mitigate the power of tech giants.

Platforms and power

EU policy aims for Big Tech ‘gatekeepers’

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act is a bold, innovative attempt to do what no power has successfully done: mitigate the power of tech giants.

Crowdwork and the gig economy are creating a “precariat”: Shopblocks, Flickr CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/155237687@N06/34719224782/

The gig economy offers workers flexibility – but inadequate labour protections. Blockchain may be the solution.

Platforms and power

Crowdwork pitfalls may need a (block)chain reaction

The gig economy offers workers flexibility – but inadequate labour protections. Blockchain may be the solution.

What we trust online today may not necessarily translate when we start using the metaverse. : rawpixel.com

Many people believe that technology is neutral or unbiased, but the reality is more complex, especially in an immersive environment.

Platforms and power

The metaverse is coming but we still don’t trust AI

Platforms such as Spotify are collecting more data from users than ever before. : Sry85, Wikimedia Commons

The power of platforms to suggest content we may like is a boon for convenience, but secrecy around data collection raises troubling questions.

Platforms and power

Spotify’s data grab moves listeners to the music

This sculpture, one of a pair found outside of the Federal Trade Commission Building, is entitled “Man Controlling Trade” and was completed for the FTC Building in 1942 by New York sculptor Michael Lantz. https://www.flickr.com/photos/bootbearwdc/2404635465/ : David/Flickr

Growing evidence and new research explain the evolution of economic diversity and the need to rethink monopolies in the age of technology.

Platforms and power

How tech rebooted economics and platforms broke the invisible hand

Indian yoga entrepreneur and businessman Baba Ramdev launched a swadeshi WhatsApp lookalike, Kimbho, in 2018. He is pictured here in 2014 with Narendra Modi. : Narendra Modi/Flickr

The prospect of freeing India from the grip of big social media platforms is alluring, but an embrace of local start-ups comes with its own risks.

Platforms and power

India’s rocky road to social media independence