Digital Platform Power and Social Development in the Global South: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Background: Digital platforms increasingly mediate welfare, services, finance, labour, and entrepreneurship, while research on platform power remains fragmented and Global-North dominated. Gap: Platform political economy, algorithmic governance, data extraction, and inclusion are rarely integrated with development theory or Global South evidence. Objective: This study maps these gaps and develops a structural synthesis. Method: An interpretive systematic review of 30 Scopus-retrieved scholarly publications (journal articles and scholarly books/book chapters) published in 2010–2025 used PRISMA reporting and thematic–geographic coding. Results: Algorithmic governance dominated (18; 60%); resistance (9; 30%), infrastructure (8; 27%), and data colonialism/digital sovereignty (7; 23%) followed. Five studies (17%) engaged development theory; four (13%) focused directly on the Global South. Conclusion: The review develops a four-dimensional typology rather than a validated causal model. Implications: The framework extends dependency, developmental-state, and capability perspectives and guides future empirical testing.