There’s Still Time

In recent years, digital transformation has gone from being a technical concept to becoming a powerful force that profoundly shapes our lives. We’re no longer just talking about computers or social media. We’re talking about how we work, how we communicate, how we govern, and even how ideas that shape public opinion are built. Digitalization cuts through everything. And it moves fast. So fast, in fact, that we often don’t even realize how powerful it has become. That’s why it’s so important to understand what’s happening and what role we play in it.

Behind every algorithm, every app, every connected device, there are human decisions. Decisions that are often made far from public debate—in boardrooms, private offices, or closed forums. The problem isn’t technology itself. The problem is what’s done with it and who controls it.

Today, a handful of tech companies have more influence over our societies than many governments. What we’re witnessing is a concentration of digital power. These companies control data, communication channels, and much of the global digital infrastructure. Private corporations decide which content gets seen and which doesn’t, how information is prioritized, and even which ideas gain more visibility.

This has deep implications. It’s no coincidence that we increasingly hear about digital manipulation, misinformation, polarization, or mass surveillance. This isn’t science fiction. It’s the reality of a world where power is no longer just political or economic, but algorithmic.

And that power, if left unregulated and undemocratized, can deepen inequality, weaken institutions, and drain our democracies of substance. Technology isn’t neutral. It replicates and amplifies the logic of the environment it’s built in. If that environment is unequal, the outcomes will be too.

Faced with this reality, we need to urgently ask ourselves: what kind of society do we want to build with digital tools? Because if we don’t take part in building it, others will. And they likely won’t have the common good in mind.

Democratizing digital transformation isn’t an empty slogan. It’s a necessity. It means opening up the conversation, involving citizens, ensuring that tech-related decisions are made with transparency and guided by ethical principles. It also means supporting open models, free software, critical digital education, and tech infrastructures that don’t rely on the profit motives of a few multinationals.

It can be done. All around the world there are initiatives proving that a different kind of technology is possible: digital cooperatives, community networks, public platforms, movements for data sovereignty. But for these alternatives to make a real impact, they need political backing, resources, and an engaged public willing to defend them.

For too long, governments have arrived late to this conversation—some out of ignorance, others out of convenience. Digital development has been outsourced to private hands, opaque agreements have been signed with big tech firms, and the idea of modernization has often weakened the public sector instead of strengthening it.

But things are starting to change. The public is demanding answers. And political leaders now face a historic opportunity: they can choose to merely manage the consequences of digitalization, or they can take the reins to ensure this transformation is fair, equitable, and truly people-centered.

To regulate is not to censor. Regulating means setting the rules of the game. It means protecting rights, fostering competition, preventing abuse. It means ensuring that technological development has a clear direction and a social purpose. And that only happens when there is a strong will to act independently and boldly in the face of corporate power.

Today, we are technologically dependent on platforms and systems we don’t control. This isn’t just a technical issue—it’s a matter of sovereignty. Every time a country uses software from a foreign multinational to manage its health, education, or administrative data, it gives up power. Every time a city adopts a “smart solution” without knowing what that technology does with the data it collects, it loses control over its own future.

That’s why it’s crucial to invest in public, open, and auditable technology. And to build regional alliances that give us scale and leverage. No one can do this alone. But together, we can build a fairer digital ecosystem.

Digitalization is sometimes presented as an unavoidable destiny, as if we had no room for decision-making. But that’s not true. Technology is made by people. And societies decide what place it has in their collective future.

Yes, there are risks. But there are also enormous opportunities if we act wisely and collectively. We can create a digital transformation that improves quality of life, makes public services more accessible, and strengthens democracy rather than eroding it.

What we can’t afford to do is look the other way. This conversation concerns all of us: governments, businesses, the media, schools, citizens. And the more voices that join in, the more chances we have of preventing the digital future from resembling the worst parts of our present.

Because in the end, it’s not just technology that’s at stake. It’s the kind of society we want to be.