Replatformization and the expansion of the alt-tech ecosystem on kiwi farms

Abstract

This paper develops ‘replatformization’ to evaluate the re-constitutive practices of alternative platforms. Alt-tech platforms that cater to ‘deplatformed’ reactionary users characterize themselves as unregulated, obfuscating how they adopt governance tactics to subvert deplatformization. Through a case study of the harassment forum Kiwi Farms, I characterize replatformization as a strategy by which alternative platforms build a ‘stack-to-come’ which exercises control of digital infrastructure within an existent regulatory model. I analyze Kiwi Farms’ replatformization between 2013 and 2025, focusing on its social, technical, and organizational tactics to evade corporate deplatforming under market-based governance. This paper elucidates three general characteristics of replatformization. First, replatformization is a sociotechnical process which requires not only technical administration but also the consolidation of capital and labor, persuasive campaigning, and proliferation of organizational apparatuses to sustain independent infrastructure. Second, replatformization intensifies the foundational values of an imperiled platform, which, for alt-tech platforms, entails a deeper descent into reactionary vitriol. Third, replatformization efforts scale after each instance of deplatforming, reflecting the ecological character of the platform economy. Alt-tech replatformization aligns with the market-based model of governance while posturing as an alternative to it, obscuring more democratic possibilities for platform governance. The three tenants of replatformization offer researchers a heuristic with which to investigate how any alternative platform, not just alt-tech, positions itself as ‘alternative’ to a platform ecosystem.