The platformisation of culture: challenges to cultural policy

Abstract

ABSTRACT Platforms are instrumental to cultural production and consumption. This is so in terms of how their affordances and algorithmic logics form, manifest and prioritise cultural products and trends. Platforms are therefore influential in shaping the cultural habits and identity formations of their users. This article explores the repercussions of the platformisation of culture on cultural policy, beginning with an investigation of the characteristics of platforms, pointing to features that are central to cultural policy. This article then suggests a framework for digital cultural politics to widen the scope of cultural policy and to include media- and communication policy, data protection, digital markets and digital services policies within its boundaries. Finally, it demonstrates how regulatory frameworks within the EU affect policymaking at the national level, focusing on recent examples from Denmark, and engages these in a wider discussion on the challenges confronting cultural policy when culture becomes ‘platformised’.