Big Tech: A help or hindrance to Africa’s development?

Big tech companies are increasingly expanding their presence in Africa to tap into its vast potential of tech knowledge and entrepreneurship. Both Chinese and American companies are racing to build out their tech infrastructures and bring high-speed internet connection to the continent. 

The benefits of such advancements are clear, especially for economic recovery efforts following the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the United Nations, having cheap, fast, and universal broadband access is an essential tool to save lives and jobs. However, Foreign Policy reports that this could give rise to a new form of colonialism. This is “the control of data as a proxy for the control of people,” and it may be harmful to the continent’s development if it means that Africans will remain consumers of foreign tech products developed with extracted data.

This investment is often framed in a development or humanitarian perspective. When people across Africa have online access, they can participate in the global economy through online trade, agricultural and food delivery networks, online job searches, and contactless loans. Widespread connectivity is also important to ensure equal access to schooling, much of which has been moved online during the pandemic.

COVID-19 has been called a “clarion call for Africa to prioritize digital connectivity,” by the ministers of digital economy in both Guinea and Togo. Facebook’s undersea cable and Google’s internet balloons will help to bring about this connectivity and provide the infrastructure necessary for Africa to develop far-reaching and innovative tech solutions. 

However, the more sinister side of the connectivity provided by big tech is that as foreign technology infrastructure becomes more consolidated, the data collected from new users feeds directly back to American or Chinese companies. This is the true motivation for big tech’s presence in Africa.  

The accuracy of targeted ads and other products depends on the quantity and diversity of the data behind it. Africa thus represents a vast, untapped market for data collection. This data is incorporated into big tech’s services, creating a more individualized experience for African consumers. In comparison to other markets, Africa is highly vulnerable to data colonialism, as 50 per cent of countries do not have adequate data protections to prevent the theft of information. This data, once extracted, is kept in foreign databases where African innovators and start-ups cannot access it.

Similarities exist between today’s data extraction and the colonial extraction of African natural resources, which were then sold back to African nations as manufactured goods. As this exploitation stunted the development of Africa’s manufacturing sector, so too is the modern African digital economy at risk. 

For example, the CEO of AppsTech Rebecca Enonchong is concerned that companies like Google and Apple may limit the potential for the local development of ground-breaking solutions to African-specific problems. Although often carried out in the name of humanitarianism, the expansion of technology infrastructure by big tech also has negative implications for the development of the continent. This new form of colonialism is a substantial barrier to the cultivation of an indigenous digital economy. 

In the short-term, this infrastructure will be vital in overcoming the economic harms of COVID-19 by providing an avenue for online business that previously was not feasible. However, in the long-term, Africa may be doomed to repeat its colonial history. Big tech will exploit the continent’s weak regulation laws, collect its data resources, and sell them back to local consumers as intuitive AI products and services. In this way, Africa’s tech start-up investment potential will benefit foreign entities and the continent's development trajectory may be stalled. 

What can be done to prevent data colonization in Africa? Policymakers must implement regulations to keep the data collected in African nations from leaving the continent and build a database for the future development of indigenous digital economies. However, these data protection laws risk disincentivizing big tech investment in tech infrastructure which could slow the recovery of a continent that is already experiencing significant capital outflows as a result of COVID-19. 

Yet data protection laws may also provide an opportunity for the development of an African-designed digital economy. Africa has no shortage of innovative talent. The dilemma here stems from the urgency for technological transformation created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Big tech can meet these needs faster, but it comes at the cost of sacrificing data sovereignty in the future. It is up to Africans to decide their future on this issue.