3 ms·

Explain what you mean by your last sentence.

• _bxg1 9y ago
  I'm no expert in these matters so I'm not very qualified to give specifics, but roughly: 1) Something modelled after employment regulation to protect people whose full-time income comes from these platforms. There are tons of rules designed to protect employees which services like YouTube and Uber have been dodging (and actively fighting) for years. 2) Something like common-carrier status to protect the users of the most critical platforms (Google search, Facebook, etc.).
  • _bxg1 9y ago
    Regulation comes in when it's necessary to acknowledge, as a society, that the natural forces at play (from the market or otherwise) in some context aren't enough to guard against sufficiently large risks to society's members or ability to function. It has less to do with the nature of the thing being regulated and more to do with the impact it has/can have on society. With that perspective in mind, these platforms have (intentionally) maneuvered themselves into a position where millions or billions of people depend on them for some combination of livelihood and/or basic connection with the world around them. That is what makes them good candidates for regulation.