Scholarship about digital platforms has concentrated on economic and labour-related issues (Burbano 2021; Arnoldi, Bosua and Dirksen 2021). Or on the proliferation of political and social opinions and ideologies on social media platforms (Wahlstrom and Tornberg 2021; Fasce and Avendano 2023). Comparatively, there has been not much focus on the power dynamics at play between nation-states and transnational platforms. Transnational platforms often have to change their policies according to state legislation and are forced to share their data with government apparatuses. Many governments have banned certain platforms because they suspected that the platforms that vested interests and have promoted local versions like China, and Russia. There are also examples of states banning platforms because they operate from certain countries. India’s ban on TikTok and other Chinese apps can be seen as an example of such cases where diplomacy and inter-state relations took a digital platform turn. Such forms of, what I call, ‘platform diplomacy’ are still underexplored in the scholarship of digital platforms.
Such acts of ‘platform diplomacy’ are often related to distrust over data where one nation suspects that the platform is sharing crucial data about its citizens with rival nations. In the contemporary world, data has become one of the prominent resources and every nation wants to protect its resources as well as get a share of the resources of other nations. However, the neoliberal globalised capitalist state often contradicts the values of the global free market when it pushes to regulate digital platforms or even ban them in their nation-state. The contradictions that arise from such acts and the way these acts are glorified or slammed in different parts of the world allow us to question the tectonic shift in how global capitalism is being viewed and how its unregulated growth is being challenged.
Beyond the relationship between nation-states, there is also evidence that when a platform sticks to its commitment to the users on data protection and privacy, the nation-states can press charges against the owner or the management team. In a recent development, France arrested the founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, in Paris. Durov’s app has been accused of being home to the sharing of information between criminals. The contents on his platform ranged from pornography to violence. However, it is the first significant arrest where the founder of an app has been arrested for the user-created and shared content of the app (See Barik and Sasi 2024 ). This arrest is not just about content, but about the sharing of data with the nation-state. Telegram allegedly refused to share encrypted data with the government and that has resulted in the arrest of the founder. I will refrain from commenting on the nature of the app here, however, it is important to understand that this issue is about the contestation of rights. Telegram was free from government control and supported freedom of expression to the fullest. Durov, in the past, has supported protesters in Russia by refusing to shut down such communities from his platform (See Sauer 2024). This attack on Telegram attempts to force Telegram to share data with the government. This, in turn, challenges the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy of the users.
Furthermore, there is a serious power struggle between platforms and governments. In the Delhi High Court, fighting against the 2021 Information Technology Rules, WhatsApp effectively said “As a platform, we are saying, if we are told to break encryption, then WhatsApp goes” (The Wire 2024). This was a response to the Indian government’s push for user-data through its act which requires them to identify the originator of an information. Data has become the new oil and digital platforms are sources of it, so every country in their own way attempts to control or atleast get a share of this new resource. However, controlling of data by nation-states directly impacts an individual’s rights over their data. Therefore, it becomes necessary to look at the role played by platforms in censoring, de-platforming, amplifying or enabling such movements and opinions. As we are moving towards a platformised world, we must understand how rights will be translated in the platforms and what will be the nature of relationship that these platforms will share with the nation-state.
References
Arnoldi, Emsie, Rachelle Bosua, and Vanessa Dirksen. 2021. Mapping Themes for the Well-Being of Low-Skilled Gig Workers: Implications for Digital Platform Design. Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration. 5(1): 55-75.
Barik, Soumyarendra, and Anil Sasi. 2024. How Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s Arrest in France Could Possibly Upend ‘Safe Harbour’ Protection. The Indian Express. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-sci-tech/explained-telegram-durov-arrest-upend-safe-harbour-9544628/.
Burbano, Vanessa C. 2021. Getting Gig Workers to Do More by Doing Good: Field Experimental Evidence from Online Platform Labor Marketplaces. Organization & Environment. 34(3): 387-412.
Fasce, Angelo, and Diego Avendaño. 2023. Left-Wing Identity Politics and Authoritarian Attitudes: A Correlational Study of Social Media Users. Journal of Political Ideologies. 1-18.
Sauer, Pjotr. 2024. ‘Internet Prophet’: Arrest of Telegram CEO Could Strengthen Heroic Image. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/aug/31/arrest-of-telegram-ceo-pavel-durov-could-strengthen-heroic-image.
The Wire. 2024. Disappearing Messages: WhatsApp Says Will Leave India if Forced to Break Encryption. The Wire. https://thewire.in/law/disappearing-messages-whatsapp-says-will-leave-india-is-forced-to-break-encryption.
Wahlström, Mattias, and Anton Törnberg. 2021. Social Media Mechanisms for Right-Wing Political Violence in the 21st Century: Discursive Opportunities, Group Dynamics, and Co-ordination. Terrorism and Political Violence. 33(4): 766-787.
***
Rishiraj Sen is a Research Associate at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad. He was a Margaret Basu Scholar at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) between 2022-23.