Introduction

Abstract

AbstractOver the past decade the study of internet governance and platform regulation has evolved into a new, socially engaged regulatory field. This chapter introduces regulatory debates surrounding the rise of digital communications platforms and their similarities to media companies. It considers the growth of regulatory activism in response to platformisation and the ‘techlash’, disputes about platform companies’ intermediary liability, and their resistance to legal controls. The chapter also explores the distinction between regulation and governance strategies, emphasising the challenges of self-regulation. It introduces core concerns of the contributors including: how we might address platforms’ dire impact on public interest journalism; how we can develop coherent, transparent, and convergent regulatory frameworks for tackling platform power; how we might analyse and monitor platforms’ new datafied, participatory advertising operations; how we can foster local content and conceive the politics of discoverability in an age of global streaming services; why platforms might have more in common with telecommunications than media companies, and, fundamentally, why governments’ early support for platform self-regulation and governance has shifted in response to political and economic transformations.