Victo Silva is a post-doctoral fellow at the iHub: Interdisciplinary research hub on digitalization and society, at Radboud University. He received his PhD in Science and Technology Policy from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil. His research interests include platform studies, platform regulation, and digital innovation.
Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius is an ICT and law professor at Radboud University, associated to iHub: Interdisciplinary research hub on digitalization and society. His research mostly concerns fundamental rights, such as privacy and non-discrimination rights, in the context of new technologies. He regularly advises policymakers.
Raphaël Gellert is an assistant professor in private law and ICT at the law faculty of Radboud University. The core of his research revolves around the regulation of technologies, and in particular digital technologies, which he conducts in an interdisciplinary fashion.
The state in the platform economy: a typology of alternative approaches
The rapid growth of digital platforms has had a significant impact on various sectors, prompting calls for stricter regulation and a rethink of the boundaries between public and private in the platform economy. Taking inspiration from Law and Political Economy literature, we present a typology of state involvement in the platform economy. Our typology distinguishes between direct and indirect intervention, and between democratic and technocratic control. We present four ideal types derived from our typology: platform socialism, platform developmentalism, social market platform economy, and state dataism. We discuss the characteristics, practical approaches, and limitations of each ideal type. Our exposition of alternative socio-economic configurations for the platform economy contributes to the generation of informed and nuanced digital policies.