Narratives of Change to Platform Governance on DTube, an Emerging Blockchain-Based Video-Sharing Platform

【Author】 Nagappa, Ashwin

【Source】SOCIAL MEDIA + SOCIETY

【影响因子】4.636

【Abstract】Several blockchain-based social media (BSM) platforms have emerged as alternatives to mainstream social media (MsSM) platforms in the recent past. Using blockchain architecture as a mechanism for governance and economics, these second-generation alternative social media (ASM) platforms aim to create social media platforms without advertising revenue or algorithmic governance. BSM platforms are relatively new and less popular than other platforms. They are, therefore, understudied in the disciplines of media studies, communication studies, platform studies, or cultural studies. This article traces changes to platform governance on DTube, a blockchain-based video-sharing platform. Using platform biography as a systematic framework and methodological approach, this article aims to understand the ever (re)configuring assemblage of technology, people, media, and economics on DTube, between 2019 and 2022. Platform governance on DTube changed from being manually driven by community members to a semi-automated process using bots. Although characteristics of blockchain technology influenced platform governance, the changes over time reiterated that user practices (not the technology itself) determined the platform's functions. In the reconfiguration of platform governance, DTube articulated minor structures of feeling that aimed to produce an inclusive space over rapid scaling. Furthermore, it hints toward "agonistic pluralism" to govern a (transactional) community with differential ties.

【Keywords】platform biography; blockchain-based social media (BSM); content moderation; platform governance; platform studies; Internet history

【发表时间】2023 JUL

【收录时间】2023-09-29

【文献类型】观点阐述

【主题类别】

区块链治理-市场治理-DAO