PLATFORMS AS BATTLEGROUNDS: INDIA’S MARGINALISED COMMUNITIES AND THE FIGHT FOR DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY

Abstract

Digital platforms have emerged as contested spaces where India’s Dalit and Adivasi communities simultaneously confront exclusionary algorithms and leverage inventive tactics to assert collective autonomy. Drawing on postcolonial computing, intersectional feminist theory, and critical platform studies, this study examines how subaltern actors negotiate “relational autonomy” over representation, data, and participation within techno-capitalist architectures. Through a mixed-methods design—combining critical discourse analysis of hashtag campaigns, memetic reclamation practices, and algorithmic counter-coding with case studies of community-run digital forums—the research reveals a dialectic between emancipatory potential and structural constraint. Findings demonstrate that while symbolic forms of protest and metadata tweaks enable momentary visibility and grassroots solidarity, platform governance and state–corporate collusion (e.g., India’s IT Rules, shadow banning) perpetuate epistemic violence and algorithmic suppression. Theoretically, the work bridges structural critique and tactical agency, showing that digital sovereignty must be reconceived as an ongoing, negotiated praxis rather than a fixed status. Practically, it underscores the need for policy reforms and community-driven infrastructures to sustain subaltern digital futures.