Perhaps you've already read or heard the expressions Digital Colonialism and Data Colonialism. They are increasingly common in describing the actions of Big Tech companies. But what, in fact, is this Digital Colonialism?
Hi, my name is Laura, I have a master's degree in communication and I'm a student of Internet Systems. My main reference today is the book Digital Colonialism, by Deivison Faustino and Walter Lippold.
Digital Colonialism is the updating of colonial exploitation for the 21st century. Historically, it was the appropriation of land and bodies. Today, it is the mass appropriation of our data and our life time, with a domination that is algorithmic and infrastructural.
This is reinforced by the Fetishism of Technology, which masks the power relations embedded in technological design. It distances our real understanding of how technology works and whom it serves, selling the illusion of a "liberating global village."
Big Tech appropriates your free time. This capture of your leisure or unemployed time allows capital to increase in value, characterizing the continuity of the capitalist exploitation process. Capitalism has found a way to monetize the total lifespan of human beings.
The design of social networks is made to keep us engaged. Our behavior, tastes, and location become valuable input. Algorithms map these patterns to induce consumption practices and, more seriously, certain political behaviors according to private interests.
The authors' critique is material: it's an exploitative structure that drains cognitive value to generate power for billionaire entrepreneurs. It deepens global hierarchies, consolidating the subjugation of collective intelligence to oligopolies.
The algorithm IS NOT NEUTRAL. It is a tool of a new colonial facet that seeks to privatize even our moments of rest, transforming human experience into a commercial asset for the Global North.
Ultimately, the essential question that emerges is: can we resist this process of digital colonization? In part 2, we will discuss the proposal for a decolonization of technologies. I'll see you there.