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Platform Regulation and Personal Data in the Age of Monetization: A Failure of Initiative?
Book chapter

Platform Regulation and Personal Data in the Age of Monetization: A Failure of Initiative?

Christopher L. Atkinson and Allison M. Atkinson
The Art of Digital Governance, pp.55-72
Public Administration, Governance and Globalization, Springer Nature Switzerland
2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-00514-4_4

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Abstract

The problem of Internet platforms’ failure to protect personal data is well-known but perhaps not as well understood. In an age of monetization, where consumer data is collected, mined to great marketing effect, and then frequently abused through breaches, loss, and identity theft, private sector firms have a responsibility to protect consumer data, but have regularly and predictably fallen short of this ideal. This chapter examines these phenomena as matters of platform governance in transition and lack of policy awareness and understanding. The current policy context evidences a variety of regular failures that suggest a general inability on the part of the private sector to handle personal data with a high degree of security and confidence. For its part and as with other slow-moving disasters, government has experienced a failure of initiative to proactively understand vulnerabilities and address them to protect citizens and reduce exposures; while the government policy apparatus has seemingly contented itself with obsolete regulations and approaches, technology has dramatically outpaced both understanding and policy development in government, allowing digital platforms to operate, and artificial intelligence to advance, largely unchecked. The chapter provides an overview of the literature on the platform governance policy environment and regulation of online protection of personal data. Policy concerns are at least partially explained by market failure theory and considerable policy-implementation gaps, including vague implementation contexts, user behavioral aspects, undue optimism, and misunderstanding, on the part of both businesses and government, of the opportunities but also threats posed by rapidly advancing technologies. Rather than supporting a climate of innovation, such a regulatory environment leaves government, business, and citizens with unacceptable levels of risk.

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