Governing the Digital Society: Platforms, Artificial Intelligence, and Public Values
Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press (2025), 261 pp.
"Governing the Digital Societypresents a range of governance approaches, focusing on online platforms, artificial intelligence, and the public values that underpin these technologies. The authors position themselves at the forefront of their disciplines, offering perspectives from law, critical data studies, urban studies, science and technology studies, computational linguistics, and the political economy of media. Expert interviews provide additional insights into ongoing efforts to tackle the challenges of governing digital societies. The book demonstrates that governance is not just a technical or legal process but a complex societal one, embedding norms, values, and morality into our institutions and daily lives." (Publisher description)
Introduction: Governing the Digital Society / José van Dijck, Karin van Es, Anne Helmond, and Fernando van der Vlist, 13
SECTION 1 GOVERNING PLATFORMS
1. Decentralized Online Social Networks: Technological and Organizational Choices and Their Public Value Trade-offs / Mathilde Sanders and José van Dijck, 27
2. Platform Cooperatives as an Additional Strategy for Empowering Platform Workers / Gabriël van Rosmalen, 45
3. Governing the “Third Half of the Internet”: The Dynamics of Human and AI-Assisted Content Moderation / Cedric Waterschoot, 63
4. Constitutional Aspects of Trusted Flaggers in the Netherlands / Jacob van de Kerkhof, 83
5. Interview with Catalina Goanta / Taylor Annabell, 99
SECTION 2 GOVERNING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
6. Governing the Global Proliferation of Digital Surveillance Technologies: Lessons from the EU / Machiko Kanetake, 107
7. The Governance of Generative AI: Three Conditions for Research and Policy / Fabian Ferrari, 129
8. The Long-term Usefulness of Regulating AI in the EU / Lisanne Hummel, 149
9. Interview with Natali Helberger / Fabian Ferrari, 165
SECTION 3 GOVERNING PUBLIC VALUES
10. The Techno-Politics of Conversational AI’s Moral Agency: Examining ChatGPT and ErnieBot as Examples / Jing Zeng and Karin van Es, 173
11. Doing Inclusion: Negotiation and Co-creation for Peoplecentric Smart Cities / Michiel de Lange, Erna Ruijer, and Krisztina Varró, 191
12. Motherhood in the Datafied Welfare State: Investigating the Gendered and Racialized Enactment of Citizenship in Dutch Algorithmic Governance / Gerwin van Schie, Laura Candidatu, and Diletta Huyskes, 209
13. Fostering Autonomy in the Digital Classroom: Strengthening Schools’ Control over Data and Pedagogy through Collective Action / Niels Kerssens and Karin van Es, 227
14. Fundamental Rights and Algorithms Impact Assessment: Towards a More Inclusive and Accountable Digital Governance: Interview with Janneke Gerards / Viktorija Morozovaite, 245
15. Concluding Comments: An Assessment of Governing the Digital Society / Albert Meijer, 253
SECTION 1 GOVERNING PLATFORMS
1. Decentralized Online Social Networks: Technological and Organizational Choices and Their Public Value Trade-offs / Mathilde Sanders and José van Dijck, 27
2. Platform Cooperatives as an Additional Strategy for Empowering Platform Workers / Gabriël van Rosmalen, 45
3. Governing the “Third Half of the Internet”: The Dynamics of Human and AI-Assisted Content Moderation / Cedric Waterschoot, 63
4. Constitutional Aspects of Trusted Flaggers in the Netherlands / Jacob van de Kerkhof, 83
5. Interview with Catalina Goanta / Taylor Annabell, 99
SECTION 2 GOVERNING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
6. Governing the Global Proliferation of Digital Surveillance Technologies: Lessons from the EU / Machiko Kanetake, 107
7. The Governance of Generative AI: Three Conditions for Research and Policy / Fabian Ferrari, 129
8. The Long-term Usefulness of Regulating AI in the EU / Lisanne Hummel, 149
9. Interview with Natali Helberger / Fabian Ferrari, 165
SECTION 3 GOVERNING PUBLIC VALUES
10. The Techno-Politics of Conversational AI’s Moral Agency: Examining ChatGPT and ErnieBot as Examples / Jing Zeng and Karin van Es, 173
11. Doing Inclusion: Negotiation and Co-creation for Peoplecentric Smart Cities / Michiel de Lange, Erna Ruijer, and Krisztina Varró, 191
12. Motherhood in the Datafied Welfare State: Investigating the Gendered and Racialized Enactment of Citizenship in Dutch Algorithmic Governance / Gerwin van Schie, Laura Candidatu, and Diletta Huyskes, 209
13. Fostering Autonomy in the Digital Classroom: Strengthening Schools’ Control over Data and Pedagogy through Collective Action / Niels Kerssens and Karin van Es, 227
14. Fundamental Rights and Algorithms Impact Assessment: Towards a More Inclusive and Accountable Digital Governance: Interview with Janneke Gerards / Viktorija Morozovaite, 245
15. Concluding Comments: An Assessment of Governing the Digital Society / Albert Meijer, 253
