Digital Colonialism

About this lecture

In this thought-provoking lecture, the speaker examines "digital colonialism" — the way modern tech empires mirror the extractive logic of historical colonizers like the British East India Company — through their control of data infrastructure, surveillance systems, and cognitive manipulation. Drawing on Islamic ethics, post-colonial scholarship, and real-world examples ranging from Bengal's 1770 famine to Larry Ellison's surveillance advocacy and data centers draining arid regions dry, the speaker calls on Muslims to move beyond accommodation and engage in principled resistance. The lecture concludes with a call rooted in the Quranic imperative of commanding good and forbidding evil, urging the Ummah to contest digital empire rather than simply seek a seat within it.