> Tech companies exploiting resources in poorer countries while extracting data from their populations to get rich is akin to “digital colonialism.” She compared data extraction to silver mining in Bolivia, which enriched colonial Spain but left nothing behind for Latin America. “They are extracting data in the same way. Data doesn’t even leave (behind) taxes,” she said.
1) Data collection and data mining are very different from data centers, but good luck explaining that to the layman.
2) Malaysia's economic problems are largely due to dysfunctional government including racial preferences baked into the constitution, coupled with the resource curse, meaning exports of oil/LNG fund all sorts of wasteful spending and crowd out other businesses. "Digital colonialism" is the least of their worries.
3) Last but not least, 60% of SE Asia's data centers are in Singapore, which is wealthier than the Western countries that, per the article, are apparently exploiting it.