Social Sustainability
Platform Cooperativism
Definition
Platform cooperativism is a model in which digital platforms — marketplaces, ride-hailing, delivery, freelance exchanges — are owned and democratically governed by the people who work on or use them, combining platform technology with cooperative principles of member ownership, democratic control and fair distribution of value. The term was coined by scholar Trebor Scholz in 2014.
References
Supports definition and framing.
Supports definition and framing.
Overview
How it is used
The concept anchors a global network of practitioners and researchers (Platform Cooperativism Consortium), policy interest in the social economy, and debates on gig work regulation.
Why it matters
As platforms mediate more of the economy, who owns them determines who benefits; platform cooperativism is the most developed ownership alternative on offer.