Digital Ethnonationalism

This Article develops the concept of digital ethnonationalism, which refers to the design and operation of opaque algorithmic systems and policies that reproduce racial and religious hierarchy and cultural homogeneity at scale. Recent federal reversals of anti-bias AI safeguards (including in consumer lending, housing, employment, procurement, and more), the stigmatizing of equity as "ideological," and pressure on platforms to relax content moderation standards exemplify this turn. Digital ethnonationalism is not confined to the United States. It is intertwined with U.S. pursuits of global technological dominance, the resurgence of nativist and ethnonationalist movements abroad (for instance, Germany and France), and the marginalization of the emerging global majority in shaping technology standards, governance, and norms. Ethnonationalist logic is increasingly embedded in digital technologies adopted worldwide. This Article does not seek to "solve" digital ethnonationalism but instead to lay the groundwork for a research agenda. It makes visible digital ethnonationalism as a growing challenge given its integration into critical infrastructure in diverse, multi-ethnic societies. For those committed to liberal, pluralistic democracy, the first step is to identify digital ethnonationalism and to develop strategies to recognize, cabin, contain, and navigate it within technology development, governance, law and policy. There is no silver bullet-effective responses are multifaceted and context-specific. Still, several core principles should guide action, including fairness (mitigating bias and proxy discrimination), pluralism (advancing linguistic, cultural, and epistemic diversity), autonomy (constraining covert behavioral manipulation and preserving meaningful human agency), and dignity (treating marginalized groups and women with respect so that they can participate in the networked age).