Digital Colonization – a New Phenomenon of the World Economy

The development of digital technologies has not only allowed humanity to make a significant leap forward in terms of technical development, but also brought back to reality the problem of colonization already at a new digital stage. The purpose of this study was to determine how digital colonization manifests itself in the modern world. To do this, the following tasks were solved: an analysis of publications showing the formation of digital colonization was conducted; the main subjects of digital colonization and tools for influencing countries and their populations were identified. The results are the identification of three entities engaged in digital colonization: states, digital companies owning social networks and search engines, as well as large industrial companies producing high-tech products; the identification of two areas of digital colonization. The first direction implies the export of resources, which includes both the appropriation of personal data of users of digital products, and the export of labor, which can be performed not only explicitly but also in a hidden way through telemigration. The second direction illustrates methods of influencing countries and populations, including the use of both mass media and search tools, as well as sanctions pressure, including the termination of access to the use of goods and services of foreign companies. A number of steps have been proposed that will allow countries, including Russia, not only to increase their technological sovereignty and reduce the impact of digital colonization, but also to strengthen ties with friendly developing countries and reduce the possibility of digital colonization in the world.

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