The Imperative of Code: Labor, Regulation and Legitimacy

This chapter analyzes digital platforms that are marked by a transition from a user-based to market-based entity. By focusing on a migration between digital organizations, user labor practices and regulation, we investigate the trajectories of `community and monetization' emerging with the platformization of the Internet, in order to uncover a growing constitutional legitimacy gap in multi-sided business models. We therefore attempt to unravel the delicate balance between regulation and co-regulation of digital platforms. Co-regulation entails taking into account the interests of multiple actors, incorporating different incentives for (user) participation across the `value chain', which are said to increase transparency, pluralism, trust and respect for privacy. Based on legal cases surrounding Facebook, we make a case for a co-regulatory framework.