Digital despotism or platform capitalism? A critique of political economy against the theory of “techno-feudalism”

Abstract

This paper launches a systematic critique of the recently emerged “techno-feudalism” thesis from a political economy perspective. This thesis analogizes platform dynamics to “fief-rent,” “data-tribute,” and “personal dependency,” suggesting a feudal resurgence in the digital age. Contra this, we argue that platform despotism is not a regression but an upgraded form of capitalist domination mediated by data and algorithms. Integrating Marx’s history of capitalist factory despotism with Althusser’s theory of the Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs), we construct an analytical framework of “critique-tracing-characterization-transcendence.” An empirical focus on food delivery riders demonstrates how platforms execute “precision exploitation” via the “algorithmic factory” and achieve “ideological interpellation” through “digital patriarchy.” The so-called “techno-feudalism” is thus a “digital variant” of capitalist production relations. Finally, the paper proposes pathways for transcendence, ranging from ideological struggle and techno-economic democratization to global governance.