Description: Neofeudalism is a contemporary term that describes an emerging form of social and economic organization in which large tech corporations wield disproportionate power—comparable to that of feudal lords in the Middle Ages. In this model, citizens are no longer entirely free users of the digital space but are increasingly dependent on private platforms for communication, work, shopping, and information. The concentration of control over data, algorithms, and digital means of production has created new hierarchies and inequalities in the technological era.
History: While the term has roots in 20th-century political critique, it gained traction in the context of the 21st-century digital economy. Thinkers like Jaron Lanier, Shoshana Zuboff, and Yanis Varoufakis have highlighted how Big Tech companies—Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Apple—concentrate not only wealth but also surveillance power and control over users. Digital neofeudalism has become a lens through which we understand how platform capitalism differs from traditional industrial capitalism, turning personal information into the most valuable resource of the century.
Uses:
- As a critical concept to analyze how digital platforms can restrict individual and collective autonomy.
- In discussions on tech regulation, data privacy, and digital rights.
- To describe environments where users lack ownership or control over their information or digital tools.
- In shaping public policies aimed at democratizing technology.
Examples:
- Sellers who depend entirely on Amazon, subject to opaque algorithms that influence their income.
- Platform workers for companies like Uber or Glovo who have no access to the data they generate and whose job security relies on algorithmic decisions.
- People who rely solely on social media for expression or connection, governed by terms and conditions that can change without notice or user input.
