Feudal Lords of bygone age ?
By Yemi Oluleye - A Tech consultant and independent writer exploring the digital economy, platform power, and the rise of techno-feudalism.
Editors Note :“This is a firsthand account of a small entrepreneur’s experience using Amazon as an e-commerce platform—what began as an opportunity turned into a hard lesson about power, profit, and the hidden mechanics of the platform economy.”
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I didn’t set out to explore techno-feudalism. I just wanted to build a simple online business.
Like many, I saw Amazon as an opportunity—an open marketplace where I could list products, make a decent profit, and Amazon would earn its fair share for providing the platform. A win-win. So I acquired inventory from suppliers and launched my store.
In the beginning, everything seemed promising. I believed I was operating in a digital version of capitalism: I had ownership of my goods, control over my pricing, and access to millions of potential customers. But that illusion didn’t last.
To remain visible on the platform, I had to engage with Amazon’s pricing algorithm. It constantly suggested I lower my prices to stay competitive. I followed its prompts—after all, that’s how you survive in the marketplace, right? But soon, the suggested prices were below my cost of acquisition. Still, I went ahead and sold at a loss, thinking I could at least recoup some capital.
Amazon, however, always got paid—whether I profited or not. Platform fees, storage charges, referral commissions… they collected rent no matter what. I realized I wasn’t running a business; I was working for Amazon. Or more bluntly, for Jeff Bezos.
The revelation struck hard. I had no leverage, no control. When inventory was lost in Amazon’s warehouse, I faced a bureaucratic wall. No clear explanation, no ability to appeal—just silence or auto-generated decisions. I was bound to Amazon’s infrastructure, rules, and algorithms, without any recourse.
That’s when I began to understand: this wasn’t capitalism. This was something else—something closer to feudalism. I had no land, no independence, just digital “tenancy” on Amazon’s platform. The algorithm was my overlord, dictating prices, visibility, and outcomes. I was a merchant in name, but a vassal in practice.
I later discovered the term for what I had experienced: techno-feudalism. It describes a new economic order where digital platforms replace markets with monopolistic control, and extract value from those who depend on their systems. The land of old has become the cloud. Lords no longer ride horses—they run platforms. And millions like me, the “entrepreneurs,” are reduced to serfs of the algorithm.
This is why I write today. To expose this shift. To show that beneath the promise of digital entrepreneurship lies a new hierarchy—one where autonomy is sacrificed for access, and profits flow up a pyramid that ends with a single platform at the top.
We must question this new structure. Because if this is the future of commerce, then we need to stop calling it capitalism—and start calling it what it really is.