On the connection between social practice and economic exploitation on 'social' media platforms

What is it about?

'Social' media platforms are important in two aspects: They are parts of the increasingly importance 'platform capitalism' as well as a demanding an increasing part of our spare time. I analyse the connection between the 'sociodigital discourse', i.e., the discourse which constitutes the internet as 'social', and how this turns internet users into free labourers through turning their labour 'social'. In other words, I seek to analyse how internet is interpreted and constructed as an object of meaning, and thereafter how this relates to the increasing exploitation of free labour within the so-called 'social' media platforms.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

This text is of importance as it illustrates how a part of our daily practice, i.e., 'social' media usage, is part of a much bigger picture, i.e., that of platform capitalism. The article denaturalizes the idea that the internet is merely 'social'. While it may still be 'social', the idea of the internet being 'social' assists in the reproduction of exploitation. By finding how the free labourers, i.e., internet users, as well as digital scientists, reproduce this understanding, it becomes clear that the very term of the 'social' is ideological behind its taken-for-granted appearance.

Perspectives