ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the construction of platform imperialism with the growth of platforms around the world. It examines the capitalization of platforms and their global expansion as the most significant form of capital accumulation in the digital age. The chapter explores the ways in which only a few western countries, in particular the US, have dominated not only the development of platform technologies but also the global penetration of these new technologies. The chapter focusses on the increasing dominance of western-based, and in particular American-based, platforms globally. It examines the evolutionary development of various theories of imperialism and examined whether one might be moving towards a situation of platform imperialism. Platforms can be situated within more general capitalist processes that follow familiar patterns of asymmetrical power relations between the west and the east, as well as between workers and owners, commodification, and the harnessing of user power.
