Event time:

Tuesday 25th January, 17:00 GMT

Event description:

Whoever controls the platforms, controls the future. Autonomy are excited to host the launch of James Muldoon’s Platform Socialism, out on January 20th through Pluto Press, which sets out an alternative vision for the future, along with concrete proposals for a digital economy that would expand our freedom.

Powerful tech companies now own the digital infrastructure of twenty-first century social life. Masquerading as global community builders, these companies have developed sophisticated new techniques for extracting wealth from their users.

Muldoon shows how grassroots communities and transnational social movements can take back control from Big Tech. He reframes the technology debate and proposes a host of new ideas from the local to the international for how we can reclaim the emancipatory possibilities of digital platforms. Drawing on sources from forgotten histories to contemporary prototypes, he proposes an alternative system and charts a roadmap for how we can get there.

James will be joined by guests Rahel Süss and Roberta Fischli to discuss the book’s central arguments, followed by plenty of space for audience discussion.

A Zoom URL invite will be emailed to ticket holders on the day of the event.

James Muldoon

James is a Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Exeter, Head of Digital Research at Autonomy, and YouTube philosopher at Political Philosophy. He also works directly with digital businesses transitioning to fair work practices. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, Time magazine and the Huffington Post.

Rahel Süß

Rahel is a political theorist researching digital technology and the future of democracy, and is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Humboldt-University of Berlin. She is a founder of the Data Politics Lab and the journal Engage, and is the author of Politique de la Provacation: La révolte contre les échecs démocratiques (Eterotopia, 2021).

Roberta Fischli

Roberta is a writer, journalist and academic, currently completing a PhD on freedom in the data-driven economy at the University of St. Gallen. She is an affiliate of the Data Politics Lab, and chairs the ethics council of Posmo, a data cooperative that seeks to change how we think about data, ownership and mobility.