In this panel, we build on the turn toward ‘algorithmic governance’ to problematize the specific confluence of big data, mobile computing and intelligent infrastructure that promises to better manage and regulate social systems and citizens. Algorithms and other artificially intelligent technologies have taken on tasks that we would traditionally call governing, albeit this transfer of power is often framed within a new kind of ‘post-politics’ digital sublime by the companies selling these solutions. These techno-utopian imaginaries are fuelled by technology firms marketing decision-making services and the ability to provide ‘cognitive solutions’ or the latest ‘technological fix’. We address algorithmic governance through four case studies in different contexts. The cases investigate the algorithms being used: a) to influence people’s behaviour through social games, b) to determine the kind of ‘news’ Facebook’s 2 billion users see, c) to attach risk scores to parents and d) to govern how the internet infrastructure is regulated. The aim is to move toward a better understanding of the implications of algorithmic governance, to assess where we are heading and to ask where we might want to change course.
