Technoliberalism and platforms as new states

This paper examines the rise of technoliberalism as a political, economic and cultural order shaped by digital platforms. Drawing on Tiziana Terranova's After the Internet: Digital Networks between Capital and the Common and later writings, it traces the shift from open, peer-to-peer networks to the dominance of the Corporate Platform Complex (CPC). Platforms such as Meta, Amazon and Palantir now act as quasi-state actors, embedding neoliberal principles into algorithmic governance. Technoliberalism fuses deregulation with technological solutionism, normalising surveillance, behavioural control and the erosion of the commons. Platforms are transforming governance and becoming new states. Yet, Terranova also points to alternatives: decentralised infrastructures, data reclaimed as commons and cooperative economies. The paper argues that resisting platform monopolies requires reimagining democracy and community in response to the expanding technopolitical power.