The new digital landscape raises critical questions about sovereignty and control

A silent revolution is transforming our information ecosystem. Tech billionaires are systematically merging control over media platforms, data infrastructure, and political influence, creating an unprecedented concentration of power that threatens democratic governance worldwide—including across Africa.

📰 The Media Takeover: Shaping What We See

The traditional media landscape is being reshaped by tech money and influence. Recent acquisitions like Hearst’s purchase of DallasNews set new precedents for valuing legacy media assets, while social media platforms are dramatically shifting their content policies.

Platform Policy Shifts

Under Elon Musk’s leadership, platform X has become what critics call a “breeding ground for conspiracy theories.” Meanwhile, Meta has abandoned political fact-checking in the United States, raising concerns about how these policies might affect information ecosystems in African markets.

🌐 Digital Infrastructure: The Unseen Control Network

Beyond content, tech elites are building and controlling the very infrastructure that carries information globally.

🌍 African Context

Across Africa, satellite internet services like Starlink offer crucial connectivity but raise “critical concerns about digital sovereignty.” When foreign corporations control essential communications infrastructure, African nations face new challenges in maintaining control over their digital futures.

Companies like Palantir, founded by Peter Thiel, now manage and process data for governments worldwide, offering what analysts describe as “surveillance and digital control” capabilities that could potentially be deployed in African nations.

🤝 The Political Machine: When Tech Meets Governance

The convergence extends into political realms, with tech leaders forming increasingly close relationships with government power.

The so-called “South African Babes”—Musk, Thiel, and Sacks—were prominent figures at political inaugurations, while Thiel’s mentorship of political figures demonstrates the deep integration between tech wealth and political power.

⚡ The Perfect Storm: How These Forces Combine

⚠️ Implications for African Media

This convergence comes as traditional journalism faces existential threats. The collapse of local newspapers has created “news deserts” globally. In Africa, where media independence has been hard-won, these developments pose particular risks to democratic accountability.

The real danger lies in how these separate strands of influence intertwine:

• Unified Political-Tech Project: This isn’t just business—it’s a political vision that seeks to reshape information ecosystems
• Weakened Independent Journalism: As platforms reduce content moderation, misinformation fills the void
• Cryptocurrency Integration: Digital currencies could further erode state monetary sovereignty

🛡️ What’s at Stake for Africa?

Democratic Governance

Media freedom, essential for holding power accountable, faces sustained pressure. When media weakens, governments and corporations can operate without proper oversight—a concern for African democracies that have fought hard for press freedom.

Digital Sovereignty

Who controls Africa’s digital future? As foreign tech giants build critical infrastructure, African nations must balance the benefits of connectivity with the risks of external control.

Public Trust

Africans are increasingly concerned about misinformation, yet divided on solutions. The 2025 Digital News Report shows political ideology heavily influences whether people believe social media companies should remove more or less content.

💡 The Path Forward

Traditional regulatory tools like antitrust laws may be insufficient to address this new form of power. As Professor Julie Cohen of Georgetown University notes, antitrust actions target corporate entities but don’t address the “giant pools of dark wealth” or the personal, infrastructural power wielded by tech oligarchs.

For Africa, the challenge is particularly complex: how to harness technological benefits while protecting hard-won democratic gains and asserting digital sovereignty in an increasingly concentrated global information landscape.

The convergence of media, data, and political power represents one of the defining challenges of our time. As this new ecosystem takes shape, African nations, civil society, and citizens must engage critically with these developments to shape an information future that serves African interests and democratic values.