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According to Internet Health Report, Digital colonialism is the new deployment of a quasi-imperial power over a vast number of people, without their explicit consent, manifested in rules, designs, languages, cultures and belief systems by a vastly dominant power.
The African continent is developing its digital infrastructure with the support of know-how and technology from Silicon Valley. But there are concerns it’s giving the tech giants too much power.
The race to control Africa’s digital market is dominated by firms like the US tech-giants Amazon, Google, and Facebook, as well as China’s Huawei.
Their declared goal is to create a digital infrastructure for Africans, by providing better access for those people who had formerly had no or very little access to the web.
Africa’s digital dilemma.
Most African countries are finding themselves in a dilemma. If they want a digital revolution, from which many African countries are hoping to gain jobs and economic growth, people will need better internet access which they can’t provide without help from foreign technologies.
Sociologist, Michael Kwet has a stern warning of the dangers of Silicon Valley’s plans for Africa. He described the scenario as digital colonialism.
The problem, according to Kwet, is that US tech firms are aiming to control the digital ecosystem and, therefore, the entire movement of data for the continent.
That is anything but democratic.
Is there a way out? The first step would be to reverse the trends. Kwet believes children should be educated on how Google works, what is behind it, rather than binding them to its products.
