Digital Colonialism: Tech Companies in Major Countries Divide the World Among Themselves

Innovative, powerful, ruthless—few stories are told as often as the relentless rise of tech companies to the top of the interconnected world. But one chapter is missing: the price paid by the Global South. Technology journalist Ingo Daschwitz and globalization expert Sven Helbig shed light on this blind spot, revealing the global consequences of digital colonialism, as well as current approaches to achieving a more equitable digitalization. One thing is certain: artificial intelligence will not fix the situation.

The promise of the digital revolution is the redemptive narrative of our time. But this book tells a different story: the story of digital colonialism. Instead of conquering land, today’s colonial rulers are conquering digital space. And instead of gold and diamonds, they are forcing people to mine raw materials in inhumane conditions—the raw materials we need for our smartphones. Instead of slaves, they employ armies of online workers who toil for meager wages in exhausting digital factories to clean up social networks or, ostensibly, to keep artificial intelligence running. Modern colonialism may present itself as clean and intelligent, but one thing remains constant: its exploitation of people and nature and its disregard for local social consequences. Amid the competition between neo-colonial powers, digital politics has long been a tool of geopolitical conflict, and the Global South is the casualty of this struggle.