Resisting Big Tech: Algorithmic Problems and Technological Sovereignty

• In Event: Disrupting Big Tech: Sociology’s Role in Interrogating AI and Social Media

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the political economy of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and strategies to resist it. We analyze the workings of algorithmic systems in the context of racial and informational capitalism, developing our perspective on the nature of those systems and the broader nature of contemporary capitalism. We explore two strategies for resisting Big Tech, and AI in particular. First, becoming an algorithmic problem (Marichal 2025) involves the recognition that the socio-technical contract denies users their basic right to human flourishing and requires a sustained socio-political movement. Second, technological sovereignty strategies resist the dynamics of profit-making in racial and informational capitalism by creating alternative ways to organize or use ICTs. We focus on the case of Cloudflare, examining the limits and possibilities it poses for technological sovereignty over AI systems.

Authors

• Sara Schoonmaker, University of Redlands

• Jose Marichal, California Lutheran University