Technofeudalism

Nature

Rather than with traditional feudalism. where landowning elites take rents from vassals, or capitalism extracting rent in the form of interest on money, technofeudalism employs online platforms to exploit workers, consumers and producers in unrestrained

Capital mutated into a new form of capital which is called cloud capital, which has killed capitalism.”

Having created digital platforms where the price of entry is handing over your personal details and preferences, modern tech titans use a new form of alchemy to convert data into knowledge that allows them to keep you on their platform and exploit you or advertisers or suppliers in the belief that you won’t leave.

And while there are physical limits to how big a car factory or fast-food chain can grow, there are almost no physical limits on how much money tech platforms can make by selling ads they didn’t make for products they didn’t make to consumers they know nearly everything about.

the vassal capitalist who also dwells in this digital fiefdom
“Cloud capital is a networked machinery. The purpose of which is for us to train it, to train us, to train it, to train us, to train it, to train us, to train it, to train us, to ad infinitum, to know us, to give us good advice, win over our mind and heart through good advice, and then input desires into our bosom, which then the same algorithm satisfies directly by selling it to us, bypassing every market, and in the process collecting 40% of the price from the capitalist, the vassal capitalist who also dwells in this digital fiefdom called amazon.com.

[Jeff] Bezos doesn’t give a damn about what you buy. He doesn’t make anything. He simply controls the digital system. He’s a technofeudal Lord on which all transactions take place through matching buyers and sellers by his algorithm that prevent you from talking to anyone, including the person you’re buying from and collecting a ground rent, which I call the cloud rent.”
Capital triumphed to such an extent that it became unleashed from all shackles, from all constraints.

Background

The concept of technofeudalism emerged in the early 21st century as scholars and commentators observed the growing dominance of digital platforms over economic and social life. Concerns intensified following the 2008 financial crisis, as technology giants consolidated unprecedented control over data, markets, and labor. The term gained traction through academic discourse and public debate, notably after economist Yanis Varoufakis’s 2023 book, highlighting technofeudalism’s global implications for inequality and governance.

Incidence

Technofeudalism has manifested globally through the increasing concentration of economic and social power in the hands of a few dominant technology platforms. These corporations exert control over digital infrastructure, data, and market access, often bypassing traditional regulatory frameworks. The phenomenon affects billions of users, workers, and small businesses, as dependency on platform ecosystems grows and traditional forms of economic agency diminish.
In 2023, the European Union investigated Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta for practices that allegedly entrenched their dominance and limited competition. The Digital Markets Act was introduced in response to these technofeudal dynamics, highlighting the scale and urgency of the issue in Europe.

Claim

Technofeudalism is a grave and urgent problem. Today, a handful of tech giants wield unprecedented power, extracting wealth and controlling information like digital lords over a vast, dependent population. This concentration of economic and social influence undermines democracy, erodes workers’ rights, and deepens inequality. If we don’t confront technofeudalism now, we risk surrendering our freedoms and future to unaccountable corporate overlords. The time to act is now—before it’s too late.

Counter-claim

The hype around "technofeudalism" is vastly overblown. Labeling today’s digital economy as feudal distracts from real, tangible issues like poverty, climate change, and healthcare. Tech companies may be powerful, but they operate within legal frameworks and competitive markets—not medieval fiefdoms. Obsessing over this buzzword wastes energy that should be spent on practical reforms, not on imaginary dystopias. Let’s focus on genuine problems, not academic fantasies.