Beyond Technofeudalism

The tech giants of Silicon Valley have become modern-day feudal lords who reign over a land of platforms which have become an inextricable part of our everyday lives and on which millions now depend for their livelihoods. Through their control of what has become the most valuable commodity in the digital age – the data of the people who use their services – the tech giants have amassed enormous wealth and power. And the power they wield is no longer just economic: it is political too. The tech billionaires have become both the idols and the main backers of the far right.

What can we do in the face of the growing power of tech giants that are colonizing statehood? Distancing himself from those who believe that digital technologies are inescapably marred by their association with capitalism, Durand argues that these technologies can be mobilized for the purposes of building an emancipated society and tackling the ecological crisis – that is, for advancing the project of cyber-ecosocialism.