Democratizing Platforms for Social Coordination

Information and communication technology (ICT) enabled social media platforms facilitate, at one level, social interaction, management of social contacts, and the promotion of self-exposure. On another level, they arguably meet a profound social need for opportunities to pursue sociallyvaluable projects, and for the free exercise of constitutive human capacities, on a hitherto unprecedented scale. Alongside these significant benefits, there are also some downsides, for example in the potential violation of privacy and breach of data regulations [1], monopolization, manipulation, and misrepresentation of information [2], and "market" domination by a few major actors [3]. These downsides have generated significant criticism of social media platforms, but our aim with this article is to be more constructive.

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