Digital colonialism: US empire and the new imperialism in the Global South

Kwet, Michael

doi:10.1177/0306396818823172

Cited by 779Cultural Studies and PostmodernismPolitical Economy and MarxismEthics and Social Impacts of AI

Digital colonialism: US empire and the new imperialism in the Global South

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Kwet, Michael·2019·Race & Class

DOI 10.1177/0306396818823172

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Abstract

This article proposes a conceptual framework of how the United States is reinventing colonialism in the Global South through the domination of digital technology. Using South Africa as a case study, it argues that US multinationals exercise imperial control at the architecture level of the digital ecosystem: software, hardware and network connectivity, which then gives rise to related forms of domination. The monopoly power of multinational corporations is used for resource extraction through rent and surveillance – economic domination. By controlling the digital ecosystem, Big Tech corporations control computer-mediated experiences, giving them direct power over political, economic and cultural domains of life – imperial control. The centrepiece of surveillance capitalism, Big Data, violates the sanctity of privacy and concentrates economic power in the hands of US corporations – a system of global surveillance capitalism. As a feature of surveillance capitalism, Global North intelligence agencies partner with their own corporations to conduct mass and targeted surveillance in the Global South – which intensifies imperial state surveillance. US elites have persuaded people that society must proceed according to its ruling class conceptions of the digital world, setting the foundation for tech hegemony. The author argues for a different ecosystem that decentralises technology by placing control directly into the hands of the people to counter the rapidly advancing frontier of digital empire.

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Most of the technological software used in many African countries is imported.
“Most of the technological software used in many African countries is imported (Kwet, 2019).”
From Toward a trustworthy and inclusive data governance policy for the use of artificial intelligence in Africa (2024) · cites this paper as Kwet, 2019

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Authors: Kwet, M.
Corresponding author: Kwet, Michael
ORCID: Kwet, Michael
Venue: Race & Class
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2019-01-14
Volume: 60
Issue: 4
Pages: 3-26
ISSN: 0306-3968 (ISSN-L)
1741-3125
DOI: 10.1177/0306396818823172
OpenAlex: W2895649879
Cited by: 779
References: 29
Citations by year: 2026: 187 · 2025: 175 · 2024: 142 · 2023: 98 · 2022: 86 · 2021: 53 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 9
FWCI: 49.73
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: green
doi.org
Licence: journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations: Race & Class (publishedVersion)
SSRN Electronic Journal (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Communication › Cultural Studies and Postmodernism
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Economy and Marxism
Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
Keywords: digital colonialism, American imperialism, Global South, multinational corporations, Big Tech, surveillance capitalism, data capitalism, privacy, government surveillance, intelligence services, digital ecosystems, South Africa, economic domination, resource extraction

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Digital colonialism: US empire and the new imperialism in the Global South

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