ABSTRACT
This chapter aims at shedding light on the darker sides of Big Data-based digital capitalism. People might be flummoxed about the broader disruption processes triggered by platform capitalism. Scholarly phantasy, political creativity, and civil society’s inventiveness will further be necessary to provide compelling analyses and novel regulatory approaches. The chapter investigates the impact in several areas of the democratic social order: first the area of media and the public sphere, second that of individual self-perception and subjectivation, and third that of social sorting and potentials for inclusion and exclusion. The European Union Commission’s rulings on Apple and Amazon send a warning to countries that facilitate hardedged corporate tax minimisation strategies and are a serious attempt at curtailing the power that large digital platforms have in avoiding their tax liabilities. In terms of political economy, digital platforms tend towards oligopolisation.
