The Struggle to Safeguard Rights in the Era of Digital Innovation

Young Diplomats Society
6 days ago
6 min read

By Tobia Marzari

About thirty years ago, a new realm of social and political interaction emerged, one that was not anchored in a real, tangible location but in an immaterial landscape stored in a faraway place: The Digital World. The remarkable speed at which digital technologies have been evolving has left regulatory bodies behind, opening the door for both public and private actors to take advantage of the lack of regulation for their benefits — corporate surveillance and data collection. The European Union is uniquely positioned to fill this regulatory space and set global standards because of its supranational nature and economic prowess as one of the largest unions in the world.

The purpose of this work is to highlight the intrinsic connection between the evolution of human civilisation and technology, and the fact that one cannot be expected to happen without improvements in the other. This article also briefly examines how dominant economic actors leverage digital technology to exploit structural vulnerabilities within contemporary societies, and the European Union’s attempt to curtail this encroachment by safeguarding people's privacy and fundamental rights.

Technology: From a Tool for Collective Advancement to an Instrument of Control

The relationship between humans and technology has always been closely intertwined. From the controlled application of fire to the printing press, and the spinning jenny, technological progress has accelerated societal evolution by fundamentally altering how people communicate, work, and interact, reshaping socio-economic structures and enabling scientific and medical breakthroughs.

As with many modern technologies (such as GPS and video games), the Internet began as a research project of the United States Department of Defence (DoD) following the Soviet Union’s successful launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in 195. In 1969, ARPA initiated a project to connect computers on the West Coast by leasing telecommunication lines, thus establishing ARPANET. By 1981, approximately 200 computers were connected to ARPANET. As the network expanded, the arrangement of interconnected computer networks began to be referred to as the Internet.

In time, the Internet expanded, finding domestic uses as well. In the 30 years since the public release of the World Wide Web, the number of Internet users worldwide rocketed to around 5.4 billion as of 2023, with around 5.04 billion social media users. Despite the powerful and potentially disruptive impact of this new realm of geopolitics, global legal structures have remained almost unaltered, leading both private corporations and states alike to take advantage of this lack of regulation to curtail personal freedoms and infringe upon people’s rights. Famously, the UK’s TEMPORA program gathered masses of phone and Internet data traffic by tapping into fibre-optic cables connected with the country, and the USA’s PRISM program gathered data directly from the US’s Internet giants such as Yahoo, Google and Meta (then Facebook).

In a 2023 TED Talk, American political scientist Ian Bremmer warned of the potential disruptive impact of this incredible evolution of digital technologies. He outlined three world orders: Economic, Security, and Digital. He postulated that these might come into conflict with one another, and a possible result of this clash could be a technology cold war in which technology companies align with their respective national governments. As of September 2024, almost half of all Chinese private assets have received direct governmental investments, and during the 2025 US presidential inauguration, sitting behind the president-elect were America’s technology oligarchs, the heads of Meta, Amazon, Google and Tesla.

How do these firms undermine democratic processes? Through a thorough collection of user information and data. They collect search queries, location information, likes and dislikes, and then sell them to the highest bidder. Humans are no longer just consumers or products; they've become the very resource supplying raw materials for database construction.

Taking into consideration these factors, American author and professor Shoshanna Zuboff and Greek economist and politician Yanis Varoufakis have noted a double movement in current international relations. A close summary of the two can further explain the evolving dynamics of power, control and economic systems in the digital age: Surveillance Capitalism and Technofeudalism. The first, as articulated by Zuboff in her groundbreaking work The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, is the commodification of personal data for profit, wherein the consumer becomes the product. Behavioural data is used to feed algorithms that have the function to predict future user behaviour. This new form of capitalistic behaviour is inherently anti-democratic. Technology corporations collect user data with the explicit intent of influencing human behaviour, altering our private and personal lives from the inside. The second dynamic, as described by Varoufakis in Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, is structural transformation of economies into platform-controlled hierarchies, where techno-oligarchs become quite similar to medieval feudal lords — rather than traditional free-market liberal capitalists — controlling huge swaths of digital land (online platforms) and the rules that govern it, while extracting profit without producing traditional value.

These two movements are deeply interconnected, the former begins by commodifying data and concentrating power. At the same time, the latter extends this power into a new hierarchical system that controls not just data but the entire digital infrastructure. Together, they describe a transition from competitive markets to a system of digital dependency and control.

The EU in Digital Regulation: Addressing the Regulatory Void

In this chaotic world of contrasting private and public interests, the European Union is uniquely suited for a leadership role because of its structural nature. As a supranational organisation, it has the power to produce legislation which is binding for its members. Starting in 2015, the EU’s Digital Market Strategy sought to harmonise digital infrastructure between member states by defining its standards rather than conforming to those of others, based on four pillars: Access, Environment, Economy, and Society. Since then, it has produced three core pieces of legislation: the Digital Markets and Digital Services Acts (DMA, DSA), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA).

The DMA and DSA, both in force since 2024, target Big Tech’s market power and platform accountability. The DMA designates companies like Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta as “gatekeepers,” imposing obligations on data access, interoperability, and targeted advertising. The DSA bans ads based on sensitive traits, enforces algorithm transparency, and holds platforms responsible for harmful content. Non-compliance can cost up to 10% (DMA) and 6% (DSA) of global revenue, plus daily penalties (DSA).

The GDPR, active since 2018, set global standards for data privacy, framing it as a fundamental right. Its impact was immediate: privacy-sensitive apps on Google Play dropped from 2.8 million in 2017 to 1.8 million in 2018. Fines can reach 4% of global turnover.

The newly approved AIA introduces a risk-based framework for AI regulation, banning practices like social scoring and subliminal manipulation. An AI Office will oversee implementation and promote global standards for trustworthy AI.

Challenges and Paths Forward

The speed of technological change in recent decades has been such that solving potential misuse of its products can feel overwhelming. Information and technology firms now hold enormous amounts of economic power and, consequently, political power. The neoliberal order of the post-Cold War period is crumbling, and trust among states is declining rapidly. This creates fertile ground for a search for a quick fix to the complicated nature of reality. The solution? Giving up people’s rights and freedoms in the name of stability and order (and, for a few, economic gain).

In 1975, the US Senate launched investigations into abuses of power by some of the main institutions of the US government. The investigations revealed that the CIA, FBI, NSA, and IRS were operating programs that included drugging US citizens, infiltrating and surveilling civil rights organisations, and covertly assassinating foreign leaders, all in the name of a supposed greater good. Upon hearing these discoveries, committee president US senator Frank Church stated, “means are as important as ends. Crisis makes it tempting to ignore the wise restraints that make man free. But each time we do so, each time the means we use are wrong, our inner strength, the strength which makes us free, is lessened.”

What institutions such as the European Union are attempting to do is to channel this change towards a place that can benefit the largest number of people without hindering scientific and economic progress, but keeping at the centre the rights and freedoms that those who came before us gave their lives to achieve.

We must believe in the regulatory process. Regardless of the end goal, people’s rights and well-being must come first and be considered from the very beginning, not left behind as an afterthought.

Tobia holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from the University of Trento, Italy, and is currently pursuing a Master’s in International Relations at Aalborg University, Denmark. Passionate about digital rights, democratic resilience, and global governance, Tobia explores how unregulated technological innovation can threaten privacy and civil liberties. Through writing and research, Tobia aims to spark dialogue and support efforts that protect democratic institutions in an increasingly digital world.