Colonialism in the digital era does not require armies, weapons and ships, argues Dhwani Goel (LSE). All you need is a tech giant that has captured the digital markets of the Global South, a government willing to push for the global liberalization of e-commerce, and an international organization that prioritizes corporate interests in rule-making.
If data is the new oil, then developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are the new oil fields. These countries are witnessing rapid growth in the digital sector driven by increasing access to technology among their large populations. For example, the number of internet-connected devices in Indonesia is expected to increase by three times in a span of only five years. Despite the large market size and potential for growth, the wealth generated by the digital revolution is not concentrated in the Global South.
The global digital divide
There exists a clear dichotomy between countries that produce vast amounts of digital data and countries that harness it for their benefit. Unlike the traditional North-South divide in the global economic
— source blogs.lse.ac.uk | Dhwani Goel | May 6th, 2021