Will National Sovereignty Splinter the Internet?

Abstract

In a global economy defined by growing geoeconomic tensions, the platform economy has become a stage where international political and economic conflict unfolds. Aware of the power of platform firms and the risks of the platform economy, large economies are abandoning the dominant laissez faire approach in favor of strategies that differ dramatically as a function of political goals, domestic political coalitions, internal industrial structure, and available policy and market instruments. We examine the trajectories and strategies of the four largest economies: the US, the EU, China and India and ask whether these strategies will lead to superficial or deep splintering that affects the structure and interoperability of networks. As efforts to govern the platform economy expand to emerging technologies such as AI, our analysis presages broader changes to the structure of what was until recently a global internet.

Keywords: platform economy, United States, China, European Union, India