The politics of ‘platforms’
Online content providers such as YouTube are carefully positioning themselves to users, clients, advertisers and policymakers, making strategic claims for what they do and do not do, and how their place in the information landscape should be understood. One term in particular, ‘platform’, reveals the contours of this discursive work. The term has been deployed in both their populist appeals and their marketing pitches, sometimes as technical ‘platforms’, sometimes as ‘platforms’ from which to speak, sometimes as ‘platforms’ of opportunity. Whatever tensions exist in serving all of these constituencies are carefully elided. The term also fits their efforts to shape information policy, where they seek protection for facilitating user expression, yet also seek limited liability for what those users say. As these providers become the curators of public discourse, we must examine the roles they aim to play, and the terms by which they hope to be judged.
The politics of ‘platforms’ - Tarleton Gillespie, 2010
Online content providers such as YouTube are carefully positioning themselves to users, clients, advertisers and policymakers, making strategic claims for what ...
Building Epistemically Healthier Platforms
When thinking about designing social media platforms, we often focus on factors such as usability, functionality, aesthetics, ethics, and so forth. Epistemic considerations have rarely been given the same level of attention in design discussions. This paper aims to rectify this neglect. We begin by arguing that there are epistemic norms that govern environments, including social media environments. Next, we provide a framework for applying these norms to the question of platform design. We then apply this framework to the real-world case of long-form informational content platforms. We argue that many current long-form informational content platforms are epistemically unhealthy. The good news? We provide concrete advice on how to take steps toward improving their health! Specifically, we argue that they should change how they verify and authenticate content creators and how this information is displayed to content consumers. We conclude by connecting this guidance to broader issues about the epistemic health of platforms.
Governing Online Speech: From 'Posts-As-Trumps' to Proportionality and Probability
Online speech governance stands at an inflexion point. Platforms are emerging from the state of emergency invoked during the pandemic and lawmakers are poised t
Can AT Protocol Fix Monolithic Platforms?
The Web Needs a Context Layer Built on a Shared Protocol
Making context a shared protocol, rather than a platform feature, would let readers see competing perspectives anywhere on the web, argue Mallory Knodel, Evan Friedman, and Brad Friedman.
Clouded skies for open networks
Last week, I finished an essay about platform design affordances and content moderation expectations and community-level context collapse on Bluesky for Tech Policy Press and set it aside to cool before a last read-through. An hour later, the Trump administration brought to Bluesky a propaganda-zombie army made
Composable Trust, Part 1: Communities Without Credible Exit - Eclectic Corvine Muses
We guarantee that users aren’t subject to platforms. Yet communities are still subject to their stewards. Can we fix this?
Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech
So I finally finished reading this and while I agree with the recommendation, I’m a little wary of some of the context it’s rooted in ideologically and I’m wondering if others have thoughts on these things. Equality in the marketplace I think the main problem with the text is that it relies heavily on the idea of “marketplace of ideas,” leaning heavily on the idea that protocols are actually good for markets specifically because they make competition more perfect (because there’s better knowled...
Bret Victor - The Future of Programming
I think this talk gives lots of food for thought. Are we too entrenched in our ways, to think in other/better ways?
There's a pernicious belief, widely believed, that if a platform isn't on its way to becoming the biggest platform then it's on its way to failing. That belief is silly. So let's stop talking about Bluesky as if that belief is true.
We Needn't Have a One True Platform
www.aaronrosspowell.comEveryone on here is arguing about X and Bluesky again. But no one ever talks about the two major issues with this platform, one cultural and one technical. And until both are solved, people are going to keep arguing about whether its relevant or not! garbageday.email/p/safe-and-cozy-in-your-dooms…
OK, I wrote up a whole blog post with some more detailed thoughts on this. Curious if anything here resonates with other folks. Thanks to @iame.li, @dholms.at, and @bnewbold.net for helpful pointers and discussions! pckt.blog/b/bits-of-entropy/all-data-sh…
All data should be permissioned data - Bits of Entropy
pckt.blog
Richard Barnes
@dholms.at - What is the right venue for discussion on this Permissioned Data proposal you wrote up. atp@ietf.org or something else? I think it is wrong in some pretty fundamental ways. Or at least the motivations are poorly articulated.
I see talk on here about the public being "platform brained", and a lot of that in my experience comes down to impatience. It's what you see when mainstream apps change layout. People have expectations about how apps are supposed to work, and learning something else is an imposed waste of effort.
jordan silver 🔵
My take on the "explaining atproto" discourse is that all the UX/filesystem/etc metaphors are still very verbose and that you can explain the same idea in a lot less words: It separates data from apps, so any app can use data from any other app. That fits in a tweet, with other sentences around it.
Ditch Platforms
Guides, stories, and reasons to leave platforms in favor of protocols
The Music Industry is Broken
Enshittification, Despotification, and the Open Internet
How to ACTUALLY Quit Spotify.
Kill Yr Substack | Jason Cosper
EFF is Leaving X
An Explanation (Which I Would Be Very Grateful If You Took The Time To Read)
