Аннотация: I wrote for them: Digital Decolonisation and Digital Justice" conference at the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science (ACEPS) on 13-14 August 2025
Introduction
The internet, often portrayed as a neutral global platform, is shaped by digital colonisation, where Big Tech companies from the "Global North" dominate infrastructure and knowledge production. This dominance marginalizes the "Global South", exploiting its labor, data, and environments while sidelining its cultures and languages (Couldry & Mejias, 2019: 12). Decolonising the internet involves dismantling these power structures, addressing digital harms, and centering Indigenous knowledge to achieve digital justice. This essay examines how Big Tech perpetuates digital colonisation, the nature of resulting harms, and strategies for creating equitable digital ecosystems.
Keywords: Digital colonisation, Big Tech, Epistemic injustice, Global South, Digital justice, Indigenous knowledge, Postcolonial technologies.
Digital Colonisation and Big Tech
Digital colonisation occurs as Global North corporations like Meta and Google control internet platforms, prioritizing profit over inclusivity. Algorithms, often trained on biased datasets, marginalize non-Western voices and exclude languages spoken in the Global South (Noble 2018: 45). For example, social media platforms amplify harmful content, such as hate speech, which has escalated violence in regions like Ethiopia (Hoffmann 2021: 103). Additionally, Big Tech exploits Global South labor, outsourcing tasks like content moderation to low-wage workers who train algorithms under precarious conditions (Roberts 2019: 89). This extractive model mirrors colonial resource exploitation, deepening global inequities.
Digital Harms and Epistemic Injustice
The internet"s structure perpetuates epistemic injustice, denying marginalized groups the ability to contribute to knowledge production (Fricker 2007: 1). In the Global South, limited access to digital infrastructure restricts participation on platforms like Wikipedia, where Western contributors dominate (Graham 2011: 267). This exclusion devalues Indigenous knowledge, as digital tools rarely accommodate non-Western epistemologies or scripts (Graham 2011: 269). Moreover, AI technologies, such as facial recognition, often misidentify non-Western individuals, embedding bias into digital systems (Buolamwini & Gebru, 2018: 5). These digital harms-from knowledge erasure to technological bias-demand urgent redress.
Pathways to Digital Justice
Achieving digital justice requires reimagining the internet through a decolonial lens. Platforms must integrate Indigenous knowledge by supporting diverse languages and cultural contexts, as seen in initiatives like African Language Wikipedia (Graham 2011: 271). Regulatory frameworks should hold Big Tech accountable, potentially through reparations for environmental damage from data centers, which disproportionately impact the Global South (Hoffmann, 2021: 107). Developing alternative, postcolonial technologies-such as open-source platforms led by Global South innovators-can reduce reliance on Western systems (Milan & Treré 2019: 325). These steps empower marginalized communities to shape digital futures.
Conclusion
Decolonising the internet is essential to counter digital colonisation and its digital harms. By prioritizing Indigenous knowledge and advocating for digital justice, we can challenge Big Tech"s dominance and foster inclusive digital spaces. The Global South must lead this transformation, leveraging interdisciplinary insights to dismantle epistemic injustice and create equitable digital ecosystems that serve all humanity.
References:
Buolamwini, J., & Gebru, T. (2018). Gender shades: Intersectional accuracy disparities in commercial gender classification. Proceedings of Machine Learning Research, 81, 1-15.
Couldry, N., & Mejias, U. A. (2019). The costs of connection: How data is colonizing human life and appropriating it for capitalism. Stanford University Press.
Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing. Oxford University Press.
Graham, M. (2011). Wiki space: Palimpsests and the politics of exclusion. In G. Lovink & N. Tkacz (Eds.), Critical point of view: A Wikipedia reader (pp. 269-282). Institute of Network Cultures.
Hoffmann, A. L. (2021). Terms of inclusion: Data, discourse, and violence. New Media & Society, 23(3), 102-120.
Milan, S., & Treré, E. (2019). Big data from the South(s): Beyond data universalism. Television & New Media, 20(4), 319-335.
Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of oppression: How search engines reinforce racism. NYU Press.