Platforms as Infrastructural Religions : Authority, Visibility, and Algorithmic Power in the Digital Age

This paper forms the historical and structural foundation of the thesis Platforms as Infrastructural Religions: Authority, Visibility, and Algorithmic Power in the Digital Age. It develops the core argument that contemporary digital platforms operate as governance systems structurally analogous to historical religious institutions—not in theological content, but in institutional function. Adopting a structural-comparative framework established in the methodological foundation (Nault, 2026a), this study examines how authority becomes durable when embedded in infrastructure. It analyzes selected historical cases—including the Crusades (as transitional mobilization), colonial missionary systems (as normalized governance), Islamic jurisprudential administration, the Confucian examination system, and the mature phase of the Spanish Inquisition—to identify recurring governance mechanisms. Across traditions, five convergent dynamics emerge: trans-local legitimacy, proceduralized compliance, infrastructural visibility and legibility, opaque enforcement with diffused accountability, dependency reinforced through exit costs. The paper argues that infrastructural authority does not require belief, persuasion, or continuous coercion. It requires only continued participation structured by systems that render individuals visible, legible, and dependent. These mechanisms recur across cultures and institutional forms and provide the structural bridge to contemporary platform governance. This work does not claim moral or theological equivalence between historical religious institutions and digital platforms. Rather, it isolates governance logics that emerge when authority becomes embedded in infrastructure capable of sorting, normalizing, enforcing, and sustaining participation at scale. This preprint constitutes the historical foundation of the broader thesis and prepares the transition to platform-specific analysis in subsequent papers.