Nick Couldry‘s The Space of the World explores the effects Big Tech’s control over social media, the digital spaces where we now conduct much of our social life. Positioned at the intersection of media theory and political philosophy, the book imagines alternatives to profit-driven platforms and calls for a radical redesign of social media that could foster solidarity over atomisation. Dawa Tshering deems it a novel and worthwhile contribution to debates on the possible futures of digital society.
How social media companies have taken the “space of the world”
“Between two and three decades ago, humanity made a huge mistake…We handed over to business the design of our social world. This is something we should have never done.” Is it too late to rectify this mistake? So asks professor of communications and social theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Nick Couldry, in The Space of the World. The book is a captivating read, and the first in a trilogy, Humanising the Future, proposing an alternative vision of how to build our digital spaces.
Situated at the crossroads of media theory, social theory and political philosophy, the book contributes to ongoing discourse regarding the repercussions of social media for democracy, ethics and human solidarity. Positioning himself as a social theorist, Couldry nudges us to reflect on how social media platforms have fundamentally shaped modern social and political life. More than that, the book invites us to imagine a future beyond the current profit-driven social media landscape owned by a few Big Tech companies. The future he imagines is one where social media is without toxicity, that fosters solidarity and promotes oneness of humanity. Across seven chapters, Couldry contends that commercially driven social media platforms have taken over the very “space of the world” where humans conduct social and political life. This digital arena is now a key place where we form relationships, discuss and contest ideas and mobilise politically. Big Tech’s takeover of the space deliberately undermines our capacity for coming together to take collective action for humanity’s survival, for example, in the face of climate disasters, so Couldry argues.
Living with, through and in social media
Couldry outlines three key arguments around how these companies shape the space and the impacts it has on our society. Firstly, he writes that unlike in the early days of the Internet in the 1990s, when it was merely a tool to exchange information, modern social media platforms now organise the very conditions under which people live and interact. To drive this point, Couldry notes that most of us now live our lives “with social media, through social media, in social media”, sharing every aspect of life from milestones to trivial matters. In short, social media has now become the space where we love, celebrate, grieve, repent, argue and live.
Platforms already exist which are not-for-profit, do not feature ads, extract user information or use algorithms to increase content engagement. […] For such platforms to be successful, a fundamental factor is a society’s ‘cultural will’ to reject the commercially driven platforms we have come to know and embrace a paradigmatic shift.
Secondly, Couldry suggests that our shared social space is distorted because the primary motive of Big Tech is user engagement and profit maximisation. This distortion of shared social space, according to the author, leads to a host of socio-political problems ranging from polarisation and mistrust to the formation of an attention economy , weakening democracy and fostering competition over cooperation, consequently making it harder for people to accept and recognise what connects us. This inability to recognise a shared humanity and future makes it difficult to cultivate solidarity, which Couldry argues, risks our in the face of climate change. Couldry draws from several events in recent memory to illustrate how social media fosters polarisation over solidarity. From fuelling racist attacks against migrants in Europe to rise in caste-base abuse in South East Asia and promotion of hate speech against minority Muslims in Myanmar, the author contends social media has been at the centre of all these events.
The scale of the challenge in taking on Big Tech
What can we do to counter the far-reaching influence of these tech companies and their effects of weakening solidarity as humanity faces grave existential threats? Couldry calls for a radical shift in how Big Tech operates social media platforms to enable public discourse that serves democracy instead of the vested interest of few elite businesses. He envisions digital infrastructures that are designed to foster wellbeing and that ensure accountability and transparency and humanity’s common good.
But one wonders if such a mammoth task is practical and achievable profit-driven infrastructures and platforms are so well established. Given the immense commercial opportunities and cut-throat competition among Big Tech to win user attention, several questions arise: who will take the moral lead to redesign their current social media platforms, forgoing billions of dollars in profit? Even if alternatives exist, what would their viability and sustainability be in the face of mainstream social media platforms who can afford to spend millions to promote their products and services?
An alternative vision for social media
Couldry reminds us that several platforms already exist which are not-for-profit, do not feature ads, extract user information or use algorithms to increase content engagement. One such platform is Mastodon, a decentralised social media where user experience is not driven by Big Tech’s algorithms but by conscious choice of what one wishes to engage and interact with. For such platforms to be successful, Couldry argues that a fundamental factor is a society’s “cultural will” to reject the commercially driven platforms we have come to know and embrace a paradigmatic shift. Additionally, this shift would require handling the technical complexities involved in running these platforms smoothly.
The Space of the World is a thought-provoking piece of work that deepens our understanding of digital technology’s impact on day-to-day life. It asks us to consider the implications of our almost mindless use of social media and to imagine what a radically new social media landscape might look like and its possibilities for fostering collaboration and empathy. Events such as the 2025 Gen Z uprising in Asia – in which young people, frustrated by perceived corruption, took to social media to topple their governments – show what is possible. On the other hand, the January 6th Storming of the US Capitol epitomises how a single social media post from influential figures can catalyse political polarisation and extremism.
The Space of the World’s attempt to shift the focus of conversation from content moderation or managing misinformation on digital platforms to a total redesign of architecture of social interaction makes it a novel and worthwhile contribution to the existing literature.
Overall, Couldry takes a negative view of social media, focusing on its downsides and harms. This bleak outlook ignores that social media has been an agent for good in society, for example in creating awareness around the rights of people living with disabilities, providing voices to marginalised groups such as LGBTQ youth and helping to demand transparency and accountability in governance. That criticism aside, The Space of the World’s attempt to shift the focus of conversation from content moderation or managing misinformation on digital platforms to a total redesign of architecture of social interaction makes it a novel and worthwhile contribution to the existing literature. It prompts anticipation for the second book in the trilogy, Corporatising the Mind ,which will deal with one of the most pressing issues of our times: the intersection of human and artificial intelligence and its consequences for the future of humankind.
Note: This review gives the views of the author and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Nick Couldry’s research has also been featured in an LSE YouTube video, What is data colonialism?, an episode of the LSE iQ podcast, Is AI destroying our planet? and an LSE Research for the World article, Are we giving away too much online?
Main image: MOCH ARIYA ERLANGGA on Unsplash.
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