Issue The rise of technofeudalism under dominant big-tech platforms

Summary

Rapid progress in AI and the digital economy is leading some observers to see big-tech-centred capitalism as a new economic form. Technofeudalism describes a system in which a few giant technology firms that control technology, data and platforms dominate the economy and society. By analogy with medieval lords and serfs, platform companies act as digital lords while users and producers become dependent digital serfs through algorithms and revenue-sharing rules. As data becomes a means of production, economic and informational power concentrates, entry and competition become harder, and algorithmic control of work spreads. The panel also flags unequal digital citizenship, the exclusion of vulnerable groups and the risk that platform control narrows individual choice, free expression and the diversity of political debate.