The Crimes of Digital Capitalism - (Justice, Inequality, and the Digital World) by Aitor Jiménez

About the Book

"This book delves into the criminal structure of digital capitalism fostered by states and corporations along the supply chain, illustrating how the rise of algorithmic racism, lithium extractivism, the Googlization of education, or the deployment of AI surveillance/killing technologies brutally impacts the lives of millions of people around the world"--

Book Synopsis

Winner, 2025 Outstanding Book Award, given by the Division of White-Collar and Corporate Crime of the American Society of Criminology

How technology companies profit from our increasing dependence on digital infrastructure and the privatization of data

The Crimes of Digital Capitalism proposes the first comprehensive theory of corporate crime for the digital age. Aitor Jiménez explores the criminal structure of digital capitalism fostered by states and corporations along the supply chain, illustrating how the rise of algorithmic racism, the Googlization of education, and the deployment of AI surveillance/killing technologies brutally impacts the lives of millions of people around the world.

Under the label of digital capitalism, argues Jiménez, lives a system of exploitation that, standing on digital technologies, is pushing the neoliberal project into an entirely new dimension of practices and exploitative policies with its own set of socially harmful consequences. Digital capitalism has accelerated the neoliberal attack on labor rights, expanded previous forms of exploitation, and developed new ways of surveilling and controlling workers. Delving into the structural relation between capitalism and corporate crime in the digital age, The Crimes of Digital Capitalism argues that the massive social harms caused by large technology companies and states should not be seen as accidental by-products, but as criminal strategies necessary for the existence of digital capitalism.

Linking the debates on the platform economy to today's most pressing social justice issues, this deeply interdisciplinary book connects complex ideas around digital capitalism to everyday problems.

Review Quotes

"Aitor Jiménez's The Crimes of Digital Capitalism is not just the first in-depth analysis of the many harms of big tech capitalism from a corporate criminology perspective, but also beautifully tells the stories of humans and non-humans who are being harmed. Written for a general audience, I highly recommend the book for scholars, activists and anyone interested in where digital capitalism is taking us."-- "Christine Parker, author of The Open Corporation: Business Self-Regulation and Democracy"

"In The Crimes of Digital Capitalism, Jiménez exposes the insidious ways state-corporate power and digital technologies have reshaped and colonized contemporary social life. Jiménez reveals the structural dependence of digital capitalism on crime, showing how it exploits, controls, and dispossesses across key sectors--from the environment and education to labor and warfare. With unmatched clarity, Jiménez elucidates the harmful impacts of digital capitalism--from surveillance and worker exploitation to racialized algorithmic systems--while uncovering the necropolitical dynamics at its core. Jiménez calls for a transformative future, one that dismantles these destructive systems and envisions a world where life can thrive."-- "Jose Atiles, author of Crisis by Design: Emergency Powers and Colonial Legality in Puerto Rico"

About the Author

Aitor Jiménez is Associate Professor in the Department of Law at the University of the Basque Country and the International Institute for the Sociology of Law. He is also a Research Affiliate at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM]S).