Journals / İmgelem / 2026 / Sayı: 16

The Origins of Digital Colonialism

Dijital Kolonyalizmin Kökenleri

Özgür Yılmaz(IBN HALDUN UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION, DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION)0000-0003-3020-8550
Journal
İmgelem
Pages
321–344
Publication Date
2025-07-29
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

Ultimately, the article advocates for a critical rethinking of global digital governance structures to promote justice, autonomy, and equity in the digital age.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:This article explores the historical and structural foundations of digital colonialism by examining how contemporary digital infrastructures, dominated by powerful multinational corporations and nation-states, replicate and extend traditional colonial hierarchies.
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Key Findings & Data:While mapping the ideological and structural mechanisms of digital colonialism, the article also investigates possible resistance strategies, including digital sovereignty, open-source alternatives, and transnational cooperation.
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Conclusion & Impact:Ultimately, the article advocates for a critical rethinking of global digital governance structures to promote justice, autonomy, and equity in the digital age.
🔬Design:Derleme
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Dijital Kolonyalizm · Medya Çalışmaları · Siyasal İletişim

Abstract

This article explores the historical and structural foundations of digital colonialism by examining how contemporary digital infrastructures, dominated by powerful multinational corporations and nation-states, replicate and extend traditional colonial hierarchies. Drawing on perspectives from political science and communication studies, the study conceptualizes digital colonialism as a multidimensional phenomenon encompassing economic, technological, epistemic, and cultural domination. It argues that digital platforms function as tools of extractive capitalism, enabling the appropriation of data, algorithmic governance, and monopolization of digital infrastructures. The article highlights how this digital hegemony disproportionately affects the Global South, reinforcing dependencies and limiting technological sovereignty. Utilizing the ethnography of written texts as a methodological framework, the study contextualizes digital colonial practices within broader histories of imperialism and capitalist expansion. While mapping the ideological and structural mechanisms of digital colonialism, the article also investigates possible resistance strategies, including digital sovereignty, open-source alternatives, and transnational cooperation. Ultimately, the article advocates for a critical rethinking of global digital governance structures to promote justice, autonomy, and equity in the digital age.

Özet

Bu makale, günümüz dijital altyapılarının güçlü çok uluslu şirketler ve devletler tarafından nasıl kontrol edildiğini ve bu kontrolün geleneksel sömürgeci hiyerarşileri nasıl yeniden ürettiğini inceleyerek dijital sömürgeciliğin tarihsel ve yapısal temellerini araştırmaktadır. Siyaset bilimi ve iletişim çalışmaları perspektiflerinden hareketle dijital sömürgecilik, ekonomik, teknolojik, epistemik ve kültürel boyutları olan çok yönlü bir olgu olarak ele alınmaktadır. Dijital platformların, verilerin çıkarılması, algoritmik yönetim ve dijital altyapıların tekelleştirilmesi yoluyla sömürücü bir kapitalizmin araçları haline geldiği ileri sürülmektedir. Makale, bu dijital hegemonyanın Küresel Güney’i orantısız biçimde etkilediğini, bağımlılık ilişkilerini pekiştirdiğini ve teknolojik egemenliği sınırladığını ortaya koymaktadır. Yazılı metinlerin etnografisi yöntemine dayanan çalışma, dijital sömürgecilik pratiklerini emperyalizm ve kapitalist genişleme tarihleri bağlamında değerlendirmektedir. Dijital sömürgeciliğin ideolojik ve yapısal mekanizmalarını haritalandıran makale, dijital egemenlik, açık kaynak teknolojiler ve ulusötesi iş birlikleri gibi direniş stratejilerini de incelemektedir. Sonuç olarak çalışma, adalet, özerklik ve eşitliği önceleyen yeni bir küresel dijital yönetişim yapısının inşası için eleştirel bir yeniden değerlendirme çağrısı yapmaktadır.

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Cite This Article

Yılmaz, Ö. (2025). The Origins of Digital Colonialism. İmgelem, Sayı: 16, 321–344. https://doi.org/10.53791/imgelem.1636282

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