U.S. tech giants exploit Iraqi oil pipelines for data transit, deepening neocolonial infrastructure dependencies and geopolitical vulnerabilities
Original framing: “Big Tech is moving data out of the Gulf through Iraqi oil pipelines” — Rest of World
The use of Iraqi pipelines for data mirrors historical patterns of resource extraction, from British colonial oil concessions to U.S.-led reconstruction projects that prioritized foreign corporate access over local needs. Post-2003 Iraq’s infrastructure was systematically dismantled and then repurposed for global capital, revealing a continuity of imperial logics. The 'dark fiber' route also echoes Cold War-era 'data highways' that bypassed the Global South, reinforcing peripheral status in the digital economy.
The deployment of 'dark fiber' along Iraqi oil pipelines exemplifies how post-colonial states are recast as passive infrastructure providers for global capital, a pattern traceable from British oil concessions to U.S.
tech expansion. This is not merely a technical solution but a reassertion of extractive logics, where data—like oil—becomes a resource to be mined, transported, and controlled by external powers. The absence of Iraqi agency in the narrative reflects a broader erasure of Global South perspectives in digital governance, despite growing movements for data sovereignty in Africa and the Middle East. Trickster figures like Hermes and Anansi reveal the absurdity of framing this as 'neutral efficiency,' exposing instead a system where corporate power and geopolitical strategy dictate the flow of information. The solution pathways—community hubs, regional cooperatives, Indigenous frameworks, and public audits—offer not just alternatives but a reimagining of digital infrastructure as a commons, rooted in historical justice and future resilience.