Who owns land, who owns language? Challenging the commercialization of Indigenous language data

Abstract

As Indigenous scholars and activists have pointed out, the commercialization of Indigenous language data resembles the historical and ongoing dispossession of Indigenous land. Using Mayan languages as a case study, this article illustrates the process by which digital advertising platforms – Google and Meta – appropriate and benefit commercially from Indigenous language data, drawing parallels with the dispossession of Indigenous land. It identifies the significant costs of this commercialization to Indigenous communities, including the lack of compensation for the Indigenous language data’s commercial value, the distortion of Indigenous communities’ linguistic and cultural representation online, and the reinforcement of extractive relationships to Indigenous land, particularly through the expansion of highly resource-intensive and environmentally destructive AI infrastructures. Finally, the paper outlines various efforts to reclaim Indigenous language data, calling for broad solidarity and support for the Indigenous Data Sovereignty movement.