2.1.5. Introduce Data Unions

A key characteristic of platform monopolies is the structural power imbalance between the platform and those who produce the data harvested by the platform, be they users or workers.

(To clearly illustrate the imbalance we will refer to platform users as “data producers” in this paragraph.)

This imbalance is very clearly illustrated in the bargaining power of data producers in respect of the terms and conditions: there is no such bargaining power. A data producer must simply accept, or be banned from a platform that may be essential for certain aspects of their lives (in which such platforms resemble public utilities); a platform worker must simply accept having their data collected, or risk losing, at worst, the income they need to survive.

The proposed solution is the collectivisation of data producers through the creation and legal recognition of Data Unions: representative organisations of data producers on digital platforms, who will be granted power for activities such as negotiation of terms and conditions, collective legal action on behalf of data producers, and other measures of structural redress.

In an extension of anti-trust measures, platform monopolies will be required to contribute funding for the organisation of Data Unions, although any attempt to use funding to exert influence must be strictly curtailed. Data Unions retain the right to be involved in negotiating major changes in the running of the platform. This is necessary to counterbalance the power of the owners of the platform with the interests of its users and data producers.