Platform authoritarianism in the creator economy
Abstract
This forum essay introduces platform authoritarianism as the digital mediation and mobilization of authoritarian ideals in creative labor. Though content creation, livestreaming, influencing, and other forms of digitally mediated work are couched within rhetorics of mobility and self-optimization, the essay's theoretical analysis pushes back against their enmeshment with authoritarian politics. With attention to disability and class, the essay draws from critical/cultural studies and creator studies to interrogate two fictions advanced by platform authoritarianism: exploitation and suppression. The essay ultimately contends that platform authoritarianism reproduces and accelerates longstanding eugenicist ideas about who belongs in public, working life.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Digital Economy and Work Transformation
Sharing Economy and Platforms
Digital Media and Philosophy
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 118–127
- Publication date
- 2 January 2026
- Language
- EN