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Report on the Book presentation “Digital Platforms and the Global South: Reconfiguring Power Relations in the Digital Industries”

Invited by IFRA to present their latest book Digital Platforms and the Global South: Reconfiguring Power Relations in the Digital Industries, Christine Ithurbide and Philippe Bouquillon discussed the issues raised by digital platforms in the Global South, with a focus on the cultural stakes involved.

This book project is based on the paradox that most major global platforms have more users in the Global South than in the Global North. Yet, the issues raised by platforms are usually studied from the perspective of North American or West European experiences. By asking ‘what are digital platforms?’ and ‘how can we develop a critical approach to digital platforms?’, the authors show the need to de-westernise platform studies by taking into account the specific socio-economic and historical contexts of the Global South. Platforms are not neutral intermediaries, they reveal strong inequalities and asymmetric power relations.

Thus, Christine Ithurbide and Philippe Bouquillon explain how global platforms negotiate with local authorities and local companies. They argued that the domination of global actors is not absolute, they must adopt localisation strategies and negotiate or partner with local actors. This dynamic leads to a “platformisation” of power through the restructuring of markets. Platforms monetise economic and social sectors that were traditionally informal (for example, craft production or local finance systems). A wide range of activities is increasingly controlled by private technology operators, leading to new forms of labour precarity and sometimes, a standardisation of cultural practices. The presentation also highlighted the diversity of actors in these ecosystems, and their complex relations (competition, collaboration, and dependence) with global platforms. It pointed to the difficulties of resistance, since most risks fall on smaller local companies.

Overall, the presentation showed that questioning Big Tech’s dominance and the emergence of platforms remains essential. 

The discussant, Noosim Naimasiah, shared several highlights and reflections to the presentation, drawing on her positionality as an activist in Nairobi. She pointed out there is a form of extractive economy rooted in colonial heritage, where digital infrastructures depend on raw materials and energy from the South, while ownership and control remain in the North, despite massive use in the South. She also touched on the conditions of digital labour, often underpaid, psychologically exhausting, and highly gendered. She then assumed that the myth of automation depends on the invisibility of this human work. The discussion further highlighted the spaces of resistance, creativity, and agency that persist within and against this system. Noosim then raised the question of whether it is possible to decolonise technologies built through imperial logics. She argued that such a system is not just something that needs to be reformed but rather it needs to be rebuilt from an African point of view. Resistance, therefore, requires a structural re-imagination of the system.

Given the many open-ended questions, the authors have since launched the South Stream research project. More information is available here : https://www.southstream.cnrs.fr/


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
IFRA Nairobi (November 17, 2025). Report on the Book presentation “Digital Platforms and the Global South: Reconfiguring Power Relations in the Digital Industries”. IFRA Nairobi. Retrieved February 15, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/155q9


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