Global platforms and asymmetrical power: Industry dynamics and opportunities for policy change
Karoline Andrea Ihlebæk, Vilde Schanke Sundet
Abstract
Global platforms have radically changed institutional dynamics within the media industry. In this study, we explore how national media organisations manoeuvre in an increasingly uneven playing field. Combining theoretical perspectives from platform studies and the media policy field approach, we analyse how asymmetrical platform power impacts industry-policy relations in a small-nation context. We find that national players collectively frame the power of global platforms as a potential threat to the media sector and to democracy. In this framing, all the players – regardless of size or market position – define themselves as ‘small’ to signal a common threat and mission across the industry. Being ‘small’ however does not entail the same for all players, which results in different action logics. We also find that industry players use collective framing to protect existing support schemes and to legitimate the call for new ones, while they seek international collaboration to impact regulation of global platforms.