The Shadow of Digital Sovereignty: CrowdStrike’s Failure & Meta’s Censorship
Should countries consider develop their own homegrown tech ecosystems?
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When we think of sovereignty, we think of the physical, autonomous nation-state. A real-world example would be the sovereignty of individual countries pursuing their interests on the global stage.
Sovereignty is to be able to act independently without coercion or force from another entity. In this case, a nation-state can be considered sovereign if it’s free or can resist the power of another while achieving its aims.
For most of the history of geopolitics, sovereignty is in the world of atoms, not bits.
Only very recently, in our social media age, has there been the emergence of digital sovereignty as a conept.
Two recent examples come to mind: the recent global failure of Crowdstrike’s software and Meta’s censorship.
CrowdStrike pushed buggy software that crippled thousands of its customers here in the U.S. and across the globe. Delta was among the worst impacted and is now suing the cybersecurity software company.
CNN recently reported that Israel conducted military action within Iran, resulting in the death of a senior Hamas political leader who represented the Palestinian political and military faction in peace negotiations with Israel.
Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim posted a video of a recorded phone call offering his condolences to Hamas officials, but Meta took down the post, Al Jazerra reports.
Malaysian PM Ibrahim was not happy with Meta’s course of action.
In both cases, I think leaders of nations worldwide are starting to quietly question the wisdom of continuing to rely on Western tech platforms from a business and geopolitical perspective. Companies like Crowdstrike and Meta as essentially basic infrastructure for 21st century societies.
Some may even think it’s worth nurturing their own indigenous tech industries, which would theoretically be beholden to their nations.
I don’t think this will happen anytime soon, as the infrastructure and talent in countries representing emerging markets are underdeveloped. Yet, for countries that have already accomplished establishing an indigenous tech ecosystem, like China, some observers would argue the benefits of having your own homegrown tech industry are manifest.
It’s become clear to me that Western tech companies benefited from being seen as neutral entities, which helped facilitate their growth as they expanded globally. (Think of how social media was used during the ‘Arab Spring’ in the early 2010s!)
But not anymore.
Expanding the scope of this analysis, many geopolitical commentators say that deglobalization is imminent with the U.S.'s efforts to decouple from China.
I used to disagree with them, but now my perspective is beginning to shift.
What if deglobalization is not physical, but digital?
Is there an opportunity for tech investors to back the next generation of homegrown tech startups in emerging markets?
Soda