Abstract

Digital surveillance has become a defining feature of contemporary life in the Global South, shaped by the 
intersecting forces of state authority, corporate power, and historical legacies of colonialism. This paper examines 
the expanding scope of digital surveillance and the diverse forms of everyday resistance that emerge in response. It 
argues that surveillance in the Global South is not merely a top-down imposition but a complex, hybrid system 
embedded in socio-political, economic, and technological structures. Drawing on historical, theoretical, and 
empirical perspectives, the study explores state-led, corporate, and informal surveillance practices, highlighting 
how they influence individual autonomy, freedom of expression, and social organization. At the same time, it 
foregrounds grassroots digital agency, illustrating how individuals and communities employ creative, tactical, and 
networked strategies, such as anonymity practices, informal monitoring, mutual aid networks, and technological 
improvisation to resist, evade, or subvert surveillance systems. Through regional case studies across Latin 
America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, the paper demonstrates that resistance is deeply 
contextual, often intertwined with survival and shaped by local conditions of precarity and inequality. Ultimately, 
the paper contends that everyday resistance in the Global South reveals both the limits of surveillance and the 
resilience of subaltern actors, calling for more context-sensitive theories and policies that centre lived experiences 
and local innovations.