Was tun gegen Plattformmacht? (How to Take Action Against Platform Power)

In their impulse lecture, Julia Bee and Philipp Hohmann shed light on the democracy-threatening potential of commercial digital platforms. They outline developments in the tech sector and touch upon problematic functions displayed by social media such as TikTok that promote toxic, misogynist and queer-hostile “filter bubbles” like the so-called “manosphere”. What are the countermeasures in civil society and art, and what are the margins for intervention on the platform to push democratic, queer and diverse topics?

Julia Bee is a professor for Gender Studies at Ruhr University Bochum and conducts research on anti-fascist protest and formats of digital political education on platforms. Philipp Hohmann works at the intersection of media and theatre sciences at the Viennese International Research Center Gender and Performativity.