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-------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht --------
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<td>Sovereignty as a service, New Article</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">Datum: </th>
<td>Thu, 13 Nov 2025 07:23:08 +0000</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">Von: </th>
<td>Rafael Do Nascimento Grohmann
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:rafael.grohmann@utoronto.ca"><rafael.grohmann@utoronto.ca></a></td>
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<td>Rafael Do Nascimento Grohmann
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:rafael.grohmann@utoronto.ca"><rafael.grohmann@utoronto.ca></a></td>
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Dear colleagues,</div>
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I would like to share with you this article just published in
Media, Culture & Society, co-authored by me and Alexandre
Costa Barbosa.</div>
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Sovereignty-as-a-service: How big tech companies co-opt and
redefine digital sovereignty</div>
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<a rel="noreferrer noopener"
href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01634437251395003"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext" tabindex="0"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01634437251395003</a></div>
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Abstract</div>
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This article introduces the concept of sovereignty-as-a-service
to describe how Big Tech companies, specifically Microsoft,
Amazon, and Google/Alphabet, are strategically redefining
digital sovereignty through their programs of cloud
infrastructure. Drawing on critical discourse analysis of
official materials released between 2022 and 2023, we show how
these companies respond to regulatory pressures, particularly in
Europe, by offering modular and branded solutions that frame
sovereignty as a technical, legal, and infrastructural matter.
Rather than sovereignty being exercised over platforms, it is
now provisioned by them, on their terms. We argue that
sovereignty-as-a-service constitutes a form of discursive
capture that empties the concept, aligning it with the
ideological legacy of the Californian Ideology. In this
reframing, digital sovereignty becomes a service to be
purchased, configured, and optimized through proprietary
platforms. By conceptualizing sovereignty as a site of contested
meanings open to appropriation, this article contributes to
critical debates on digital sovereignty and technology
governance.</div>
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Thanks!</div>
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Best </div>
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Rafael</div>
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<span
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<span
style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; background-color: white;">dr.
Rafael Grohmann</span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">Assistant
Professor of Media Studies</span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 134, 240);"><a
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moz-do-not-send="true">Department of Arts, Culture and
Media</a></span></p>
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University of Toronto</div>
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<span style="color: black; background-color: white;">Leader,
</span><span
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title="https://digilabour.com.br"
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Associate, </span><span
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href="https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/profiles/rafael-grohmann/"
title="https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/profiles/rafael-grohmann/"
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Editor,
</span><span
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title="https://journals.sagepub.com/home/PNS"
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<span
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Investigator,
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style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 134, 240); background-color: white;"><a
href="https://digilabour.com.br/worker-owned-intersectional-platforms-woip/"
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moz-do-not-send="true">Creative Labour and Critical
Futures (CLCF)</a></span></p>
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style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.67px; color: black; background-color: white; line-height: 1.5;">2024-2025
Faculty Fellow, </span><span
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Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, University
of Toronto</a></span></p>
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