Beyond the Multitude: State–Society Alliances as a Strategy Against Big Tech’s Digital Hegemony

This article critically examines the limitations of prevailing Western critiques of American Big Tech’s digital hegemony, particularly those influenced by the theoretical framework of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt. While the Negrian emphasis on the “multitude” and identity-based struggles has contributed to recognizing the multiple contradictions—racial, gendered, and class-based—that are reproduced and amplified in digital spaces, its categorical rejection of the sovereign state as a counter-hegemonic actor has led to a persistent strategic impasse. Through an extensive review of critical literature and empirical cases, the study analyses various forms of spontaneous, bottom-up resistance—including platform cooperativism, peer-to-peer networks, blockchain-based initiatives, algorithm audits, and public education campaigns—and demonstrates their inability to meaningfully challenge Big Tech’s monopolistic control. Using Robert Cox’s tripartite model of global power (Empire, sovereign state, and civil society), the article argues that effective resistance to digital hegemony requires alliances between the state and non-co-opted segments of civil society. The analysis extends to the Global South, where the combination of Big Tech dominance and NGOmediated civil society often undermines state-led digital sovereignty efforts. The case of China is presented as a noteworthy counterexample: since 2016, the Chinese government has placed political limits on domestic Big Tech, implemented people-centered regulatory policies, and maintained sovereign control over its digital space. While not without its contradictions, this model demonstrates that a state–society alliance can achieve tangible results in countering the Empire’s digital power.

The article concludes that overcoming digital hegemony requires moving beyond spontaneity-based paradigms toward structured, state-supported strategies—particularly in the Global South—capable of addressing the political-economic foundations of Big Tech’s global dominance.

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