Social Media States - NOEMA

Social media companies, which yield state-like power, have a lot to learn from early modern company-states like the East India Company.

Eleanor Shakespeare for Noema Magazine Credits Brendan Mackie received his PhD in history from UC Berkeley this May. He writes about the history of organizations, technology and parenting. Over the past year, it felt like almost every public question was transformed into a social media question. The Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020 quickly led to a debate about whether Trump’s tweet “ When the looting starts, the shooting starts ” was an incitement to violence. Discussions about the proper response to the COVID-19 pandemic bled into meta-discussion about whether social media p

related reading

• Exit To Community - NOEMAnoemamag.com
• And You Will Know Us by the Company We Keep - Remains of the Dayeugenewei.com
• Social Media Is Not Self-Expression – The New Inquirythenewinquiry.com
• Social Media Can Be Reimagined for the Good of Societyssir.org
• Everything Is Televisionderekthompson.org
• How Should Big Tech Be Regulated?noemamag.com
• Come for the Network, Pay for the Toolsubpixel.space
• Prologue | Network Statethenetworkstate.com
• Towards Platform Democracy: Policymaking Beyond Corporate CEOs and Partisan Pressure | The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairsbelfercenter.org
• Threads and the Social/Communications Map – Stratechery by Ben Thompsonstratechery.com
• Centering Community Voices: How Tech Companies Can Better Engage with Civil Society Organizations | TechPolicy.Presstechpolicy.press
• The Digital Is Political - NOEMAnoemamag.com