Technocolonialism is more than just a metaphor-it is a direct continuation and reinvention of the patterns of domination, extraction, and dependency that defined the colonialization of the Americas and other parts of the world. At its core, technocolonialism describes how powerful tech corporations, mostly based in the Global North, use digital infrastructure, data, and artificial intelligence to entrench inequities, reinforce dependency, and impose their cultural and economic will on the Global South and marginalized communities everywhere123.
Just as Empire claims land, resources, and sovereignty through conquest and settlement, today’s tech giants claim digital “territory” by building and controlling the platforms, data streams, and digital ecosystems that underpin daily life34. This is not just about economic power, but about shaping the very ways people communicate, learn, work, and even imagine their futures.
Settler Colonialism and Digital Infrastructures#
The colonialization of the Americas was not only about resource extraction, but also about settler colonialism: the establishment of new social, economic, and political orders by displacing and dominating Indigenous populations. Settlers imposed their languages, laws, and cultures, often erasing or marginalizing existing ways of life.
Technocolonialism mirrors this process in the digital realm. Tech corporations “settle” new markets by rolling out infrastructure (like cloud services, social networks, and mobile platforms) that become essential for participation in modern society. Local alternatives are often crowded out or rendered obsolete, and communities become dependent on foreign technologies for basic communication, commerce, and governance234. The “settlers” in this case are not nessecarily people, but captivating devices, platforms and proprietary standards, embedding the values and interests of their creators.
Extraction, Dependency, and Cultural Imperialism#
Colonial empires extracted wealth-gold, silver, crops, labor-while creating systems of dependency that kept colonies subordinate. Similarly, technocolonialism is marked by the extraction of data, attention, and digital labor, with profits flowing to distant corporate centers. The dependency is deepened as countries, especially in the Global South, rely on imported software, hardware, and AI systems, making it nearly impossible to develop independent digital economies or protect local interests34.
Cultural imperialism is also central. Just as colonizers imposed their languages and worldviews, tech companies export the cultural norms, biases, and epistemologies of Silicon Valley-often English-language interfaces, Western-centric values, and data-driven ways of knowing-crowding out local cultures and alternative ways of organizing knowledge and society3.
Labor, Surveillance, and Experimentation#
Colonial powers often treated colonized lands as laboratories for experimentation, whether in agriculture, governance, or medicine-frequently with devastating consequences for local populations. In the digital age, technocolonialism sees marginalized communities and the Global South becoming sites for technological “pilots”: biometric surveillance in refugee camps, AI-driven humanitarian programs, and new forms of digital identification516. These experiments are justified as “progress” or “aid,” but often reinforce power asymmetries and expose vulnerable populations to new risks1.
The New Digital Frontier#
Much as the colonial powers justified their actions with rhetoric about “civilizing missions” and “progress,” today’s tech empires claim to be connecting the world, fostering development, and empowering the underserved. But beneath this benevolent veneer lies a system that perpetuates extraction, dependency, and cultural erasure-echoing the very dynamics of settler colonialism and imperial conquest13.
To resist technocolonialism is to demand digital self-determination: the right of communities to control their own data, infrastructures, and technological futures. It is a call to decolonize the digital world, challenge extractive practices, and build technologies that serve the needs and values of all peoples-not just the interests of distant digital empires.789101112
Technocolonialism: When Technology for Good is Harmful | Wiley ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
An intellectual history of digital colonialism - Oxford Academic ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Digital Innovation and Data Practices in the Humanitarian Response ↩︎
Technocolonialism and biometrics: reinvigorating the call to … ↩︎
Indigenous Knowledge, Western Science, and the US Colonial Project ↩︎
Keeping Indigenous Science Knowledge out of a Colonial Mold (Eos) ↩︎
Colonial Science, Technoscience, and Indigenous Knowledge (Chambers, PDF) ↩︎
Confronting colonial history: toward healing, just, and equitable conservation (Ecology & Society) ↩︎
M̓ṇúxvʔit model for centering Indigenous knowledge and governance (PMC) ↩︎