From NWICO to AI Systems: The Political Economy of Algorithmic Power and Information Sovereignty

Concerns about communication inequality have resurfaced in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Just as the 1970s-era debates on the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) focused on imbalances in global news flows, contemporary AI systems now determine what information is visible. This study examines AI through the NWICO framework, arguing that AI does not eliminate historical information inequalities but restructures them through algorithmic gates and data control. It adopts a critical political-economy research design (CPE) to answer the question of who owns and controls AI algorithms, and how algorithmic power is distributed, drawing from classic NWICO concerns; specifically, media ownership, news flow, and communication sovereignty. The central argument of this study is that the power of algorithms, apparent in automated recommendation systems and AI-driven infrastructures, is the new locus of communication power. It further argues that data ownership, linguistic exclusion, and AI governance shape contemporary global voice and visibility. By advancing four distinct theoretical propositions that link these historical structural dependencies to modern data regimes, the study illustrates how data gaps and AI algorithms of media platform giants reinforce the gap between the Global North and Global South. The study ultimately proposes that meaningful communication sovereignty requires participatory AI governance and computational sovereignty, which fosters an inclusive, democratic process where citizens, civil society, and diverse nations (especially those in the Global South) have a say in how algorithmic models are designed, audited, and deployed.