In the past two decades, technology platforms have evolved from infrastructure tools into full-fledged social institutions. What began as engineering solutions to coordinate identity and content sharing on the World Wide Web have now become governance environments: systems that actively shape speech, behavior, and participation online. Yet this evolution has not been accompanied by a proportional development of oversight, understanding, or public accountability: Platform governance emerged as an ad hoc series of responses to disinformation and harassment, and many early systems reflect the cultural and procedural homogeneity of Silicon Valley. These governance techniques were developed without social scientific insight, lacked the benefits of law and legal precedent, and continue to be deployed today with little scrutiny.
Guest edited by Tracey L. Meares and Sudhir Venkatesh, this volume examines the ways in which online platform governance unfolds across domains and charts possibilities for reshaping it toward more socially beneficial outcomes. Contributors bring a range of disciplinary perspectivesāincluding sociology, anthropology, law, political science, and media studiesāas well as experience from the industry itself. The integration of industry perspectives with scholarly insight is intended to foster a more grounded, collaborative approach that benefits researchers, regulators, and the public alike.
