platform governance

IT for Change, in collaboration with the Centre for Labour Studies, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, presented to the Karnataka government a memo on creating a government-supported ride-hailing platform in the state. The memo focused on the issues and challenges faced by new entrants in digital markets like ride-hailing…

A data-propelled tendency for economic concentration and the policy deficits that have fueled the rise of Big Tech companies have brought to the fore a critical realization – market power is coterminous with data power and the entrenched control of Big Tech over the data value chains is at the heart of the problem of economic inequality. The…

JustJobs Network recently published the report, 'Empowerment or Exploitation: Global Perspectives on Women's Work in the Platform Economy', which examines the impact of the platform economy on women's work experiences. The report features a collection of essays from various economies, highlighting how platform work frequently results in…

As part of IT for Change’s ‘Recognize-Resist-Remedy’ project, supported by IDRC (Canada), the World Wide Web Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, in collaboration with InternetLab, we co-organized a roundtable to catalyze a productive debate revolving around the central question: What new imaginaries of social media governance will be adequate…

In collaboration with the Data and Society Research Institute, the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), and others, IT for Change is co-organizing the first Annual Conference of the Platform Governance Research Network, which will take place from March 24 to 26, 2021. The three-day online conference seeks to bring together an…

As employment in India bounces back from the Covid lockdown, platform-mediated work is expected to come into its own. Indian legislation must take the right steps to protect the status and labour rights of gig workers in these changing times, while unions also need to bring these new workers into the fold.

Under the Covid-19 lockdown,…

In October and November 2018, during the Great Indian Festival season in India, online retail giants — Amazon, Flipkart and Paytm Mall — sold goods worth $4.3 billion (Rs 29,947 crore), 43% higher than the last year.

Traders in physical retail must now reckon with the rather disconcerting reality of e-commerce. The press note issued by…

This report presents emerging insights from the research studies being undertaken under the project. Covering 14 countries and a range of domains and sectors, it examines the current trends in platformization, mapping the emerging policy responses and challenges.

Read more from the 'Policy Frameworks for Digital Platforms' research…

In April 2017, IT for Change with support from the International Development Research Centre, Canada participated in a multi-country research study to map the key issues/concerns for the rights and inclusion agenda, stemming from pervasive platformization, in three key domains – economy, knowledge and governance. Through a detailed analysis of…

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Platformization is a key facet of the global economy today. Platforms, as understood through informational capitalism, are not just online market places – they are market makers. As “a set of digital frameworks for social and marketplace interactions” (Kenny & Zysman, 2016), platforms replace…