U.S. Tech Giants Face Pressure Over Data Sovereignty ⇥ restofworld.org

Damilare Dosunmu, Rest of World:

Developing nations are challenging Big Tech’s decades-long hold on global data by demanding that their citizens’ information be stored locally. The move is driven by the realization that countries have been giving away their most valuable resource for tech giants to build a trillion-dollar market capitalization.

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South Africa is the only African country where Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have built their own data centers, adding to a market valued at $2.28 billion in 2023, according to market research firm Arizton Advisory & Intelligence. […]

It is difficult for me to believe each of the two-hundred-ish worldwide states will have an entirely localized data centre, even for just the named giants. Also, a requirement for local data storage may be a roadblock for new contenders. But the U.S. has repeatedly blown up any trust the world may have had in allowing it to steward all our data, so it is unsurprising to see moves in the direction of more sovereignty. Sure makes the internet feel less connected than it used to be, though.