platform capitalism

English

Noun

platform capitalism (uncountable)

1. (business, neologism) A way of doing business that involves recruiting large numbers of people who work for themselves using the company's platform; for example, by facilitating ridesharing.
   • 2015 June 6, Evgeny Morozov, “Where Uber and Amazon rule: welcome to the world of the platform”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Some prominent critics even speak of “platform capitalism” – a broader transformation of how goods and services are produced, shared and delivered.

   • 2017 August 30, Nick Srnicek, “We need to nationalise Google, Facebook and Amazon. Here’s why”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     At the heart of platform capitalism is a drive to extract more data in order to survive.

   • 2020 October 8, James Greig, “The pain of cinema closures isn’t just economic”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     The last 20 years has seen a decline in socialising […] We are living in the era of platform capitalism, where you can do just about anything without leaving your home, and are in fact encouraged to do so.

See also

• platform economy
• sharing economy
• surveillance capitalism