alt=Electronic colonialism|thumb|400x400px|Digital colonialism combines the predatory nature of colonialism in the classic sense with the abstract ways value is determined in the digital age.
Electronic colonialism, sometimes abbreviated to or Digital Colonialism, was conceived by Herbert Schiller as documented in his 1969 book Mass Communication and American Empire. In this work, Schiller postulated the advent of a kind of technological colonialism, a system that subjugates Third World and impoverished nations to the will of world powers such as the United States, Japan, and Germany, given the necessary "importation of communication equipment and foreign-produced software".
As scholarship on this phenomenon has evolved, it has come to describe a scenario in which it has become normal for people to be exploited through data and other forms of technology.
Background
Similar to the expansion and establishment of territorial colonies and protectorates by European colonial powers during the new imperialism era (as exemplified by the scramble for Africa), the information revolution ushered in a new era of socialization. Like the notion of traditional colonialism, this revolution urged multimedia conglomerates (empires) to regard audience demographics (territories) as obtainable colonies. Spurred into existence by the "demise of Communism," market globalization and rapid innovation within the communication technology sector, Electronic Colonialist Theory posits a contemporary form of neo-imperial reign. This is based not on expansive military acquisition and procurement, but rather on capturing the mind share and consumer habits of the target demographic – a psychological empire. Prior to 1945, "there was no international communication theory." The increased cross-border media flow during and after the Reagan era spurred a flurry of merger and acquisition activity. This led to a movement toward corporate consolidation that would later define the media industry's predominant growth tactic well into the 21st century (e.g. WarnerMedia).
Digital colonialism and the Global South
The origination of the concept draws on early colonialists' arrival on African shores to make profit and fulfill imperial objectives through enslavement and exploitation of local labor to obtain the maximum amount of natural resources and raw materials present. This also was achieved through the building of crucial infrastructure to attain these goals and facilitate imports and exports. Colonialism in the electronic age, on the other hand, takes place through the use of digital devices, mediums and systems. According to this version, communication systems such as social media platforms and infrastructures that enable network connectivity in the Global South are present exclusively for data harvesting, profit generation, storage and analysis. These platforms act as nets that capture ordinary occurrences so that they can be marketed. Furthermore, digital colonialism can be defined as the retrieval and control of data from individuals without obtaining clear consent from them, "through communication networks developed and owned by Western tech companies." In these scenarios, individuals often develop the data that is ultimately extracted by monitoring their own activities. Sometimes this is done on their own accord, but in other instance it can be a job or contract requirement. others have looked at it as a totally new form of oppression. This views data as a byproduct of people's lives that cannot be owned, much like the air people exhale. Corporations such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent claim they are the only ones capable of processing such data and thus can make society a better place through this process – much like how those who perpetrated colonialism in the historical sense claimed it was a "civilization" project. This digital revolution has created a scenario in which it is not always unique people who are being targeted and influenced, but rather "data doubles." When the force of this position is exerted on regions with limited infrastructure and data protection laws, the researchers in the area submit that the "business model transitions into a form of digital colonialism." ProjectAires, Project CSquared, and the now-defunct Project Loon demonstrate a further expansion of profit seeking. The idea of digital colonialism is the replication of early colonialists' infrastructure projects today in the form of digital/network connectivity infrastructure, In this scenario, companies such as Facebook and Alphabet generate profit from their software and Online Services in the region, rather than actually engaging in the development in long-term, local infrastructure to provide steady economic growth in the Global South. This has helped bring about a need for the concept of digital neo-colonialism.