State and Federal Legislative and Executive Action Opportunities

Summary

Public policy makers have a vital stake in fostering a healthy relationship between productivity gains and
personal income, and more generally, in reducing income inequality and the concentration of power it
often represents. In the midst of an increasingly centralized and unequal online economy, platform
cooperatives (PCs) are online businesses that share ownership, governance, and profits far more equitably
among users and workers. They are also a powerful new way to address growing concerns about data
privacy, cybersecurity, and the inappropriate use of secret algorithms. PCs are building a new digital public
square, one where the benefits of modern Internet technologies support jobs and economic growth without
the dangerous centralization of power that threatens democracy and the common good. Policy makers can
support the fast-growing Platform Cooperative movement and ensure that the thriving online economy
shares its benefits more equitably in local communities.