Subjectivity and algorithmic surveillance

notes on the technological agency of social media platforms

Abstract

With the "platforming" of the internet, our daily flows of interaction and lived actions are turned into digital flows that can be captured in such a way that they gain economic use through surveillance and behavioral modulation practices. The growth of this model is intertwined with the processes of subjectivation in such a way that it becomes a challenge to research on the technological agency of social networking platforms. In this article, we seek to present, through a theoretical conversation, the implications of algorithmic visibility and platform systems that rank valid knowledge and identify its most relevant components for examining subjective network processes. Furthermore, together with Rouvroy and Berns, we argue how the creation of a notion of “anormative objectivity” of the algorithms generates the sensation that they mirror an immanent normativity to society only (re)producing and multiplying it. These algorithms produce the echo chambers that are on-line coexistence spaces immune to difference, which use knowledge validation structures in which other relevant voices are actively excluded and discredited.