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SUMMARY:The complexity of platform power  - Philipp Lorenz-Spreen\, Dresde
 n University of Technology\, and Max Planck Institute for Human Developmen
 t
DTSTART:20260306T120000Z
DTEND:20260306T133000Z
UID:TALK242176@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Psychology Reception
DESCRIPTION:Information and communication technology has undergone dramati
 c developments over the last two decades. Increasing interconnectedness ha
 s led to more self-organized public debates\, platforms and their algorith
 ms have gained new power over discourse\, and generative AI has made conte
 nt fabrication easier than ever. In this talk I argue that power over disc
 ourse in these environments increasingly resides not in top-down control o
 f content\, but in the structural levers encoded in platform architectures
 . Drawing on insights from complexity science\, behavioral science and our
  recent empirical syntheses\, this talks develops potential ways to explai
 n why digital platforms produce beneficial democratic outcomes in some pol
 itical contexts while exacerbating polarization\, mistrust\, and autocrati
 c resilience in others. Failure to conceptualize this structural platform 
 power and it interplay with human behaviour\, we argue\, will hinder effor
 ts to build democratic alternatives\, which work differently to commercial
  U.S. platforms or state-controlled autocratic ones. I will conclude with 
 a research agenda grounded for studying online platforms and their power i
 n the digital age.\n\nHost: Dr Lee De-Wit\n\nThis talk will be recorded an
 d uploaded to the Zangwill Club "Youtube channel":https://https://www.yout
 ube.com/@zangwill_club in due course.
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of  Psychology
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