Consent, coercion, colonialism: a manifesto for digital rights from the left

Digital transitions, involving the widespread adoption of biometric, algorithmic, and AI systems across public and private sectors, are often framed as inevitable and necessary for progress. However, these transitions are not neutral. They are shaped by coercive data extraction practices of digitalization, which consolidate corporate power, and reproduce colonial social relations. At the center of this process is the erosion of meaningful consent, alongside the expansion of surveillance infrastructures that restructure subjectivity without recognition or accountability. Dominant rights frameworks, including liberal notions of personhood and existing legal protections, fail to confront these harms. Regulatory frameworks overlook relational dynamics, systemic misrecognition, and the asymmetries of digital colonialism. Coercion is overtaking consent in the digital realm. A new political struggle is needed to reclaim subjectivity and argue for a manifesto of digital rights from the left.