This paper extends Lenin’s theory of imperialism to analyze digital platform monopolies. It argues that platform capitalism reproduces Lenin’s five features – monopoly, finance capital, capital export, international alliances, and territorial division – through data-driven accumulation. Core concepts include data rent (extraction from user activity), data-fictitious capital (valuation based on speculative data), and digital colonialism (value extraction without territorial occupation). Using cases like Meta, Google, and Apple, the paper demonstrates how digital platforms amass monopoly power via network effects and algorithmic control, export capital through infrastructure and data flows, and form new alliances while bypassing traditional sovereignty. It identifies three inherent contradictions: between user value creation and platform appropriation, between data commodification and privacy rights, and between global digital expansion and regulatory fragmentation. The conclusion offers a Leninist-inspired critique of digital monopoly as a stage of capitalist imperialism, contributing to critical political economy literature on digital capitalism.
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Share and Cite
Ling, H., Wang, Y. (2026) The Political Economy of Digital Platform Monopoly: A Contemporary Extension of Lenin’s Theory of Imperialism. Hong Kong Financial Bulletin, 2(2), 51-57. https://doi.org/10.71052/hkfb2025/VIDG2027