The Data Crowd as a Legal Stakeholder.

This article introduces the concept of the "data crowd" as a new legal stakeholder in the data economy, defined as an unorganised, non-deliberate collective whose aggregated participation produces value and is governed by an external authority—typically digital platforms. Unlike traditional social groups or masses, data crowds such as users of social networks, search engines, and AI-based applications are interdependent yet lack cohesion or collective agency, making them uniquely vulnerable to platform power. The article argues that current legal frameworks focus on individual user rights or broad public concerns but fail to recognize the crowd's collective interests, particularly in the stable governance of participation infrastructure. It proposes that consumer protection law be restructured to address these collective interests through regulation ensuring transparency, stability, and fair processes in platform governance, including mechanisms like prior notice for infrastructural changes and limits on user removal. This framework aims to better capture the complex role of users as simultaneous consumers and producers within platform ecosystems and to address their collective vulnerabilities under external platform authority.