[[Platform]] [[Cooperatives]].
Platform co-operatives adopt the democratic ownership and governance structure of workers’ co-operatives and utilise a digital platform for the sale of goods or services.
Platform cooperatives are an alternative to venture capital-funded and centralized platforms, putting stakeholders before shareholders.
Platform co-ops are based on principles including:
- Broad-based ownership of the platform, in which workers control the technological features, production processes, algorithms, data, and job structures of the online platform;
- Democratic governance, in which all stakeholders who own the platform collectively govern the platform;
- Co-design of the platform, in which all stakeholders are included in the design and creation of the platform ensuring that software grows out of their needs, capacities, and aspirations;
- An aspiration to open source development and open data, in which new platform co-ops can lay the algorithmic foundations for other co-ops.
Platform cooperatives are businesses that use a website, mobile app, or protocol to sell goods or services. 📱 They rely on democratic decision-making and shared ownership of the platform by workers and users.👥
offer a near-future, alternative to platform capitalism based on cooperative principles such as democratic ownership and governance.
introduce economic fairness, training, and democratic participation in the running of online businesses.
give stakeholders a say in what happens on the platforms.
Platform co-ops must be founded with a deep commitment to social justice which should be considered in all processes of institutional design and governance practices
– [[Platform socialism]]
Some have argued that we might fight these monopolistic trends by building up cooperative platforms. Yet all the traditional problems of coops (e.g. the necessity of self-exploitation under capitalist social relations) are made even worse by the monopolistic nature of platforms, the dominance of network effects, and the vast resources behind these companies. Even if all its software were made open-source, a platform like Facebook would still have the weight of its existing data, network effects, and financial resources to fight off any coop rival.
– [[Platform Capitalism]]