Surveillance Capitalism in Fragile Democracies: Defending Journalism from Dual Domination

Abstract

This paper investigates how surveillance capitalism enables a convergence of state authoritarianism and digital monopolies, posing an existential threat to fragile democracies by examining its corrosive effects on the news media in Turkey and Hungary. Drawing on document analysis and interviews with 24 journalists and media executives, it argues that a system of “dual domination” has emerged, wherein the state-led construction of an “economy of domination” through media capture and legal repression is amplified by the market-driven “instrumentarian power” of Big Tech platforms like Google. This symbiotic relationship creates a uniquely corrosive environment that systematically dismantles the free press, pollutes the information ecosystem with propaganda and disinformation, and makes independent journalism economically unviable. The analysis, framed by Shoshana Zuboff’s theories, concludes that this dynamic constitutes a “Second Tragedy of the Commons” and a slow-motion coup des gens, seizing sovereignty from the public and eroding the “right to the future tense.” In response, the paper proposes a framework for solutions grounded in Mathias Risse’s concept of justice, advocating for two pillars of action: first, the establishment of journalism as a legally protected global public good, and second, the formation of a global civic alliance to enforce structural and regulatory reforms that hold tech platforms accountable for their role in demo- cratic backsliding.