The politics of platforms. Between capitalism and cooperativism

Over the past decade, the increasing cross-pollination between Media and Communication Studies and Science and Technology Studies (e.g., Gillespie et al. 2014; Balbi et al. 2016; Musiani et al. 2016; Bonini and Magaudda 2022) has helped to define the role of the materiality of mediation, particularly in light of the pervasiveness of platformisation processes (Helmond, 2015) and their forms of circulation (Appadurai 2010). Furthermore, the emergence of 'platform studies' (Bogost and Montfort 2007) has allowed to analyse the interplay between the emerging platform economy and the agential role of technical components such as algorithms, standards and protocols, shedding light on processes of value creation and forms of power distribution. This led to the identification of two different socio-economic models: a profit-oriented mainstream one collected under the label “platform capitalism” (Srnicek 2016) and a democratically governed alternative, known as “platform cooperativism” (Bauwens and Kostakis 2014; Scholz 2016). The latter takes shape from the critique of the extractivist mechanisms of corporate sharing economy, advancing an organisational model of digital platforms based on solidarity, shared ownership and democratic governance. Adopting an STS perspective, this research aims at comparing the socio-technical assemblage of two digital platforms working in the short-term rental market: Airbnb and Fairbnb, ascribable to the models of platform capitalism and cooperativism, respectively. Observing their constitutive elements (data, algorithms, interfaces, ownership relations, business models, user agreements) and whether and how they inform the fundamental mechanisms (datafication, commodification, selection) of the "platform society" (van Dijck et al. 2018), the work aims to bring to light the mutual articulation between the platform economy and the performative power of their material architecture. The research proposes a reflection of a twofold nature: on the one hand, it highlights the characteristics of a cooperative platform, which finds in participation the necessary prerequisite for reconciling technoscientific requirements and needs, desires and principles of communities and end-users. On the other hand, it identifies the main difficulties that a platform with a cooperative vocation has to face being subjected to the logic of market neo-liberalism, with significant consequences regarding its effectiveness and efficiency, scalability and sustainability.