Geert Lovink: Platform Brutality
Published
The internet’s violent turn is no longer confined to sensational images or misinformation, it runs deep within the architecture of platforms. In his critical analysis of technological violence, Geert Lovink reveals how algorithms, code, and network design produce new forms of exclusion and control, and why the only real response is to dismantle the platform principle itself. Lovink will present his recent research on these topics, and his recent book “Platform Brutality” published with Valiz in September 2025.
Lecture
Saturday
November 22. 15.15
Bergen Assembly
Halfdan Kjerulfs gate 4
Free and open to all
vimeo.com/bekdotno
The internet has become integral to all human activities and its recent violent turn is visible everywhere. Think of the deletion spree of Musk’s DOGE taskforce. Platform brutality goes well beyond ‘fake’ media representations and misreportings of violence that occur elsewhere. Technological violence is, in essence, remote, invisible and indirect. Many do not immediately notice the exclusion deep inside the code and network architecture, similar to how data extraction already operates today. Our answer will not be pacification or regulation but the dismantling of the platform principle itself.
GEERT LOVINK
Geert Lovink is a Dutch media theorist, internet critic and author of Sad by Design (2019), Stuck on the Platform (2022) and Platform Brutality (2025). In 2004 he founded the Institute of Network Cultures (www.networkcultures.org) at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA), which will become independent mid 2026 after his retirement. He’s part of support campaigns for Ukranian artists, in particular UkrainaTV (Krakow) and the related StreamArtNetwork.
Return to the detailed symposium programme.
BEK symposium
The Only Lasting Truth is Change: Voice, Seed, Brutality
21–23 November
Bergen, Norway
Accessibility
Bergen Assembly’s open office is fully accessible from street level and toilets are gender neutral.