Digital Sovereignty, the Private Sector, and a Social Republican Alternative

Abstract The European Union has stated the ambition to regain control over the digital sphere, which academics have construed as both a push for digital sovereignty and as a form of digital constitutionalism. The strategy promises to be an improvement over the previous period of digital liberalism. I suggest, however, from a republican perspective, that this strategy of digital sovereignty is not sufficiently critical of the reliance on the private sector. A dominant private sector comes with a risk of widespread infrastructural dependency and yields too much of the digital sphere to a way of thinking that is shaped in accordance with silicon valley companies. On a republican account, these are arguably forms of structural domination. To prevent these risks from materialising, the European strategy should instead emphasize the role of alternative ownership models, such as those found in the digital commons and in public service media organisations.