Peer-reviewed article publication: Samuele Fratini, 2025, The sociotechnical politics of digital sovereignty: Frictional infrastructures and the alignment of privacy and geopolitics. Big Data & Society, 12(4).

In this article, ClaimSov post-doctoral researcher Samuele Fratini advances an approach informed by Science and Technology Studies (STS) to digital sovereignty. He argues that digital sovereignty can be conceptualized as an emerging assemblage in which technical architectures, legal frameworks, narratives, and geopolitics align… sometimes unexpectedly.

An example: privacy technologies or open source solutions were often born and narrated as reactions to global scandals or perceived threats (as in the aftermath of the Snowden revelations). But today, they are powerful assets to reduce dependence, break vendor lock-ins, and encode democratic values in technology.

Digital sovereignty is not merely a top-down political project, but can be pursued by harnessing existing infrastructures, procurement processes, technical designs, and corporate narratives.

From a policy perspective, this means that states do not necessarily need to come up with new national champions or target an unrealistic decoupling. Most of the time, the article argues, it is better to leverage existing sociotechnical conditions to construct incrementally, rather than by pursuing dramatic nationalizations or wholesale technological separations.