Deperipheralisation of people and states in the algorithmic assemblage: court cases and a proposal for a new social contract

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article investigates what happens in the platform economy from the point of view of the algorithm-mediated relations established between corporations, governments, and users. From an assemblage approach, the article argues that a new order is emerging whose most salient feature is the collaborative alliances between governments and users versus the large corporations behind the platforms. A direct consequence of this is increasing regulation of platforms’ economic activities. Based on the survey of four legal cases, the article applies a mapping method to identify the capacities exercised by the components of this algorithmic assemblage and observe that, while big tech corporations continue to occupy a central position, users and governments are pushing for the assemblage’s reterritorialisation and, hence, their Deperipheralisation. Considering this novel trend, the article concludes that the most politically relevant pillar of the new identity of the algorithmic assemblage is a new social contract centred on data rights, literacy, and sovereignty.