Technocolonialism: surveillance, data, and digital control
How large digital platforms and artificial intelligence reproduce colonial control: algorithmic racism, data appropriation, and global espionage
Twenty-first-century colonialism doesn't use ships or chains. It uses algorithms, servers, digital platforms, and artificial intelligence systems that shape human behavior on an unprecedented scale.
The major technology corporations—Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft—have become empires more powerful than many nation-states. And their technologies not only organize the world: they also control it.
Especially in the Global South.
The new colonial spoils: the data
Previously, gold, oil, and rubber were plundered. Today, data is plundered—a raw material worth more than any physical resource. Data from the Global South is collected en masse and stored in centers in the North. It is processed with AI trained and created in the North. The economic benefits remain outside of Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
This phenomenon is widely documented by:
Shoshana Zuboff – The Age of Surveillance Capitalism (2019)
UNCTAD – Data and Digitalization for Development (2021)
Privacy International – Reports on data mining in the Global South
Algorithmic racism: programmed discrimination
Racism didn't disappear: it was hardcoded. Algorithms learn from patterns that reflect the prejudices and inequalities of the societies where they are designed. The result is a technology that harms those who have always been marginalized.
Errors in facial recognition with black, indigenous or mixed-race people
Facial recognition systems fail up to 100 times more often with black faces and dark skin than with white faces.
Sources:
Joy Buolamwini & Timnit Gebru – “Gender Shades: Intersectional Accuracy Disparities in Commercial Gender Classification” (MIT Media Lab, 2018). A study that demonstrates significant racial bias at IBM, Microsoft, and Facebook.
NIST – “Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT)” (2019) . Confirmed that algorithms make mistakes up to 100 times more often with Africans and Asians than with Europeans.
Discriminatory Associations in AI
AI models automatically associate African or Latin names with risk, crime, or low trustworthiness.
Sources:
Bolukbasi et al. – “Man is to Computer Programmer as Woman is to Homemaker?” (2016). Demonstrates biases in language models.
Latanya Sweeney – “Discrimination in Online Ad Delivery” (Harvard, 2013). She demonstrated that Google showed more “arrest records” ads to African American names.
Automatic penalties in financial and labor systems
Algorithms that grant credits, rank resumes, or detect fraud apply discriminatory patterns towards people from impoverished countries.
Sources:
Cathy O'Neil – Weapons of Math Destruction (2016).
European Commission – AI Bias Report (2020).
Surveillance and espionage: the empire that sees without being seen
Technology not only discriminates: it also monitors.
The United States spying on countries in the Global South
Edward Snowden's 2013 leaks proved that the NSA had mass surveillance programs over millions of people and entire governments in the Global South.
Sources:
Edward Snowden – Leaked NSA documents (The Guardian, 2013).
Glenn Greenwald – No Place to Hide (2014).
Espionage against political leaders
The Pegasus software —used by multiple governments in the North and South— has been used to spy on journalists, activists and heads of state in Africa and Latin America.
Sources:
Amnesty International – Pegasus Project (2021).
Forbidden Stories – Joint Investigation (2021).
Artificial intelligence as a new “civilizing” mission
AI is exported to the Global South as “progress”, but in reality it creates total dependency:
The servers are in the North.
The algorithms are in the North.
The rules are written in the North.
The benefits stay in the North.
The South only consumes, it doesn't decide.
Sources:
UNESCO – Ethics of Artificial Intelligence Report (2021).
ITU – Digital Development Report (2022).
Who controls the future?
Technocolonialism doesn't just affect economies: it affects identities.
It decides what information we see, how platforms describe us, what opportunities open up or close, and even which cultural narratives survive or die in the algorithms. Data is the new oil. The Global South is the new mine. And the exploitation is quieter than ever.
Glossary:
Algorithm — A set of programmed mathematical instructions that allows a computer system to perform calculations, process data, and make automatic decisions. In this context, they act as the invisible "rules" that regulate access to opportunities or services.
Global South — A geopolitical (rather than geographical) concept that groups together countries from regions such as Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and parts of Asia, historically characterized by having suffered colonialism and facing economic inequalities in the face of developed powers.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) — Abbreviation for Artificial Intelligence . It refers to computer systems designed to mimic human cognitive functions, such as learning and problem-solving, through the massive processing of data.
Algorithmic racism — A phenomenon whereby automated systems replicate and amplify existing racial prejudices, discriminating against marginalized groups due to biases in their programming or in the data with which they were trained.
Technocolonialism — A modern form of domination in which powerful corporations or nations exert control over other countries through ownership of digital infrastructure, software, and data extraction, generating technological dependence.
NSA — Acronym for National Security Agency . Intelligence agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, specializing in cryptography and, as mentioned in the text, responsible for global mass surveillance programs.
Facial recognition — Biometric technology that uses algorithms to identify or verify a person's identity by analyzing their facial features.
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