The Algorithmic Turn in Platform Governance: The Discursive, Political, and Technological Positioning of Algorithms and AI as a “Technological Fix” for Complex Challenges

Abstract

The governance of platforms has become a central topic of public and political debate: How should social media providers deal with problematic content such as misinformation and hate speech? And how should we regulate platforms—make them liable for content or push them to use upload filters, for example? Against this background, the article reconstructs the current “algorithmic turn” in platform governance as a development that can by no means be explained only by technical advances in content classification. Automated procedures can be positioned as a conclusive solution for complex procedures only because they can be favourably embedded in discursive and political developments—above all, as a discursive “responsibility turn” of increasing attribution of responsibility to platforms and as a political–regulatory development of increasing co-liability of platforms for content. This paper reconstructs and discusses these issues from a conceptual perspective that combines work in the sociology of technology and institutional theory. The final section reflects on the broader lines of an increasing institutionalisation and “infrastructuralisation” of algorithmic systems. Among other things, the paper identifies the danger of, by shifting decisions about contentious content to technology and infrastructure, removing these inherently political questions from public debate and leaving them to the decision-making authority of platforms.