14 July 2025, NIICE Commentary 11471
Anaisha Tiwari
Historical Parallels: Data in the Age of Empires
Historically, data played a crucial role in enforcing and reinforcing colonial power and gaining political and economic power. Data is not a neutral or objective phenomenon; rather, it is more complex. It involves a whole system of people, history, rights, and power. The Spanish Empire in Latin America provides a broader context for understanding how data is used and interpreted to enforce colonial rule. The Spanish administration prioritised the systematic collection of data, including navigational charts, cartographic surveys, botanical illustrations, and information about the colonial subjects. This was later used as a way of establishing and maintaining political dominance and economic exploitation. In India, data collection was vital for colonial governance. The British relied on detailed maps of India and financial, archival, and historical data produced by local rulers to maintain control over the territory.
Historical colonialism is marked by the commodification of indigenous knowledge by the coloniser, as seen in the colonisation of Latin America as well as India. Presently, the Global South remains vulnerable to this form of colonisation, where the control and ownership of data are concentrated in the hands of a few powerful corporations. This phenomenon mirrors this historical pattern of resource extraction, where the Global South provides raw material to the Global North.
Continuity in Exploitation: Digital Colonialism and Resource Appropriation
Digital colonialism extends the explosive practices of historical colonialism into the digital sphere. Data colonisation can be defined as a part of Digital colonisation where digital technology is used for social, economic, and political domination over other nations or territories, it is considered digital colonialism. As data becomes a new currency of power, digital colonisation represents a modern form of subjugation.
It largely replicates the historical pattern of resource extraction and exploitation, similar to the extraction of natural resources. This form of exploitation transforms human life and activities into raw materials for economic gain. Dominant powers have ownership over digital infrastructure and knowledge, which perpetuates a state of dependency within the hierarchy, situating Big Tech firms at the top and hosting an extremely unequal division of labour.
Just as colonial powers appropriated natural resources under the guise of naturalised resources, which were free to be exploited, data colonialism treats data as a raw material, “just there” for use. Data have a long life cycle, often changing hands and being repurposed across decades or centuries. The ownership of data by individuals or promoting open-access frameworks fails to consider the long life cycle and co-constructed nature of data.
Data Appropriation refers to the extraction and use of data as a resource. Data colonialism is similar to historical colonialism in its exploitation of resources for capitalist gain. This form of appropriation penetrates layers of human life itself, such as education, social interaction, and governance. There is a systematic appropriation of data across these domains, mostly for profit. Further external data appropriation occurs when individuals or communities lose control over their data to external entities, predominantly to transnational cooperation, while these corporations profit from the raw data.
These corporations capitalize on the vast amounts of raw data generated from consumer interactions and online activities. By leveraging this data, they engage in practices that perpetuate exploitation, making it a standard aspect of their operations. Consequently, this leads to a significant and unequal distribution of the advantages gained from resource appropriation, creating disparities that affect communities and economies worldwide. The impacts of this unequal benefit are profound, as they reinforce existing power structures and hinder equitable growth. The unequal global distribution of the benefits of resource appropriation. This unequal distribution reinforces a hierarchy of economic power, with the Global South relegated to the role of a perpetual resource provider.
Mechanisms of Data Colonisation
Monopolization of digital infrastructure and control over key elements of the data value chain play a primary role in enforcing data colonization. The infrastructure of connection enables the colonialism process to be more subtle. This includes exploiting data from the source, including computers, devices, sensors, process, objects, people, and their interaction with the goal of ‘producing greatest profit’. Data colonialism operates through a network of cooperations and data brokers that commodify personal data as well as monopolize data both as buyer and seller. The big tech corporation has control over key elements of the data value chain, including but not limited to data value chain such as platform, storage, processing, as well as AI models.
Big Tech is therefore pursuing a different type of monopoly control than traditional MNCs; they are pursuing monopolistic control over data to feed their productive processes, which are increasingly controlled by Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI) rather than human employees.
The use of term services plays another crucial role in the colonialism process. These serve as a modern equivalent to colonialism, embedding individuals into exploitative data relationships with large corporations. The data collected by multinational corporations influences societal norms and preferences, which in turn fosters cultural imperialism. Like historical colonialism, data colonialism is not limited to only appropriation of resources, i.e, data, but it is marked by a fundamental shift in societal relations.
Data colonialism has emerged as a new frontier in neo-colonialism by subjecting individuals to perceive social trends, behaviour, and identities influenced by data. As some of the largest shareholders of data in the global market, these corporations shape political agendas, reinforce cultural hegemony, and reinforce inequality that was created during colonialism.
As the data-driven global system has evolved, the data divide has compounded into a large digital divide. In this situation, developing countries find themselves in a subordinate position where the value driven by data is concentrated in a few digital corporations.
Data Colonization and Conditional Aid
The use of data as a primary prerequisite for development funding has highlighted the deep colonial nature of global aid. International aid organizations in the global south based in the global north are reliant on the data produced by the global south to drive their projects and decisions. Although this is framed as a technical necessity to maintain and ensure accountability and transparency, it largely reinforces the ‘politico-economic structures of neoliberalism that open Global South data to exploitation,’ which further reinforces the structural dependencies that are inherent to the colonial pattern of control and exploitation.
Practices and standards of data validation are a key mechanism by which international aid organisations shift control over Global South data from local governmental structures to aid organisations themselves. These development aids are often tied to conditions that include comprehensive sharing of local data relating to population and resources. While these particles are presented as norms for developmental aid, they push for accountability and visibility; public institutions must be attentive to the subtle epistemic power that these data practices leverage.
This transforms data as a means of political and economic hegemony, which creates a new dependency between the donor country and the aid recipient. Access to data of the recipient country extends the reach of the donor country into the governance system of the recipient country, enabling influence over policy-making, tracking resources, and reinforcing neo-colonial principles.
Impact of Data Colonisation on Sovereignty and Self-Determination
The legacy of colonialism has always challenged the notion of equal sovereignty, which continues to cast its shadow as the former coloniser holds political and economic power. This phenomenon continues to persist in the digital age as data serves as the fundamental resource in the global economy, as an avenue to extend asymmetrical power structures.
The commodification of humans, particularly human social life, i.e., social interactions, and human behaviour, generates data from which profit can be extracted. Data is harnessed as a resource for profit, usually at the expense of developing nations. The control and ownership of data are concentrated in a few multinational corporations based in the global north. This largely mirrors the historical pattern of resource exploitation, where resources are extracted from the colonised territory, which enriches the coloniser.
Data relations do not offer a space of freedom separate from capitalism but are rather the means whereby capitalist relations are formed and extended literally, as we connect. Resources are indirectly controlled, causing economic dependency and subjugation of the Global South to the former colonial power. Data colonialism not only serves the economic interest but also reinforces cultural hegemony with the dominance of social media platforms based in the global north and algorithms that often shape cultural narratives.
This control and exploitation of data reflects the intersection between digital technology and the colonial legacy. Colonisation itself is not a one-time phenomenon but rather a continuing phenomenon, and the roots of colonisation remain. The global imbalance in data ownership and governance intensifies inequality, which limits the ability of developing countries to act independently, reinforcing a system of exploitation and colonial rule.
Anaisha Tiwari is a Research Intern at NIICE & she is currently pursuing her B.A.L.L.B. at Kathmandu School of Law, Nepal.
