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The essay reconstructs the specificity of the algorithmic constellation that has established itself globally since 2001. It identifies platforms as asymmetric configurations of power that enable accumulation while operating a centralisation that allows for an original reconfiguration of the social. Through them, algorithms perform two specific political functions: the mediation between computational and cultural content and a command function that establishes the behaviour that digital individuals can and should engage in. Platforms are therefore not only a new form of enterprise, but also a political model that invests the state, which, by renouncing certain elements of its sovereignty, reaffirms its specific role within the algorithmic political form.