ABSTRACT

In the networked twenty-first century, digital platforms have significantly influenced capital accumulation and digital culture. Platforms, such as social network sites (e.g. Facebook), search engines (e.g. Google), and smartphones (e.g. iPhone), are increasingly crucial because they function as major digital media intermediaries. Emerging companies in non-Western countries have created unique platforms, controlling their own national markets and competing with Western-based platform empires in the global markets. The reality though is that only a handful of Western countries, primarily the U.S., have dominated the global platform markets, resulting in capital accumulation in the hands of a few mega platform owners. This book contributes to the platform imperialism discourse by mapping out several core areas of platform imperialism, such as intellectual property, the global digital divide, and free labor, focusing on the role of the nation-state alongside transnational capital.

part I|45 pages

Imperialism Is Back

part II|79 pages

Platform Politics

chapter 3|27 pages

Construction of Platform Imperialism

chapter 4|24 pages

Platform Politics in Nation-States

part III|61 pages

Political Economy of Platform Technologies

chapter 7|25 pages

Challenge to the Global Digital Divide

chapter 8|10 pages

The Future of Digital Platforms