Algorithms as a Mode of Governance

Abstract

Algorithms are the central governance technique on online platforms. While recommendation algorithms govern user attention and information flows (Bucher 2012), algorithmic content moderation takes up the task of interpreting and enforcing platforms’ speech norms (Gorwa et al. 2020). This Panel discusses how to conceptualize algorithmic powers enjoyed by digital platform companies, and to what extent they are at odds with democratic aspirations and other political values. The Panel will scrutinize how widespread disagreement about fundamental values creates new challenges for the regulation of algorithms (Wong 2020), and what mechanisms of conflict management can be envisaged in algorithmic policy-making without generating new democratic legitimacy deficits.

Title	Details
Big Tech, Algorithmic Power, and Democratic Control	View Paper Details
Non-State Actors and the Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence	View Paper Details
Resisting algorithmic content moderation	View Paper Details