Whilst some hail the new digital economic era as an opportunity for people in the Global South to ride the wave of innovation to prosperity, others argue that what we see is a new era of digital colonialism. There are countless committed digitalisation fans who are happy to adopt any AI, smart or data-driven technology without a second thought and believe that digitalisation is the way out of poverty for millions in the Global South. The reality seems to show us something else. Rather than finding success, the Global South once again is in a position of permanent dependency, where …

The platform economy might be the next big thing but what are the impacts on working people in the Global South in this age of digital colonialism? In this is a short introduction we explore who benefits from increased digitalization in the developing world and how people on the verge of starting their own digital revolution can fight against the powers of the large tech companies. What exactly do we mean with digital colonialism? Just as the old western powers sought to gain economic, political and social domination by conquering new territory in the Global South, large digital technology companies, …