Protocooperative networks

the new architecture of informational power and its technical and cognitive impacts

Abstract

This article analyzes the phenomenon of protocooperative social networks, in which digital platforms, although formally competing, cooperate indirectly through the massive replication of content, the action of recommendation algorithms, and the growing use of generative artificial intelligence. Interplatform replication transforms communication flows into redundant structures, concentrating informational power in a few intermediaries and reducing the diversity of voices and perspectives. The study also discusses the cognitive, social, and democratic impacts of this model: information overload, reinforcement of bubbles, algorithmic manipulation, and systemic vulnerability. It also addresses the technical and energy implications of this expansion, such as the exponential growth of data storage and the increase in electricity consumption. It concludes that protocooperative networks are not a deviation, but a new form of communication organization, requiring regulatory and social responses commensurate with their complexity. The study proposes ways to mitigate these risks, focusing on algorithmic transparency, decentralization, media literacy, ethical AI, and incentives for original production.