Digital sovereignty: The missing piece in CARICOM integration

The Caribbean stands at a digital crossroads. CARICOM governments are actively debating the adoption of a shared currency, an idea that has resurfaced repeatedly since the Treaty of Chaguaramas. The rationale is clear: integration is necessary for survival in a global economy that rewards scale, coordination and collective strength. But if policymakers are prepared to pool monetary sovereignty, why not also confront the deeper question of digital sovereignty?

Daily life in the Caribbean is mediated through platforms designed, owned and governed far beyond the region’s borders. WhatsApp groups organise neighbourhood life, TikTok drives youth culture, and Western-based financial apps increasingly shape remittances. The region’s cultural and political imagination is thus outsourced to Silicon Valley. The question worth asking is whether the Caribbean can imagine—and build—its own digital infrastructure: a regional platform capable of hosting communication, commerce and culture in ways aligned with its values.

Global examples suggest that this is not fantasy. In China, WeChat has grown from a messaging app into a super-application integrating payments, governance and social exchange. Platforms like Douban have nurtured cultural communities and artistic networks. Russia has cultivated its own platforms, such as VK and Rutube, to assert digital sovereignty. These models are not without flaws, but they show what is possible when states and regions decide to build for themselves.

The case for a Caribbean alternative is not abstract. This month, Nepal’s youth-led movement toppled a government through mass protests against corruption and a social media ban. In an unprecedented move, protesters used Discord, a chat platform, to hold debates and polls that resulted in the nomination of Sushila Karki as Nepal’s first female prime minister. Nepal’s interim government is now preparing for elections in 2026, its legitimacy born out of digital spaces. This example illustrates how digital platforms are no longer peripheral—they are central to governance itself.

For the Caribbean, the implications are profound. If platforms are where citizens now organise, debate, and mobilise, then sovereignty without digital sovereignty is incomplete. A Caribbean super-platform could serve multiple functions: facilitating cross-border payments in a shared currency, hosting regional cultural content, and providing digital spaces for youth to engage civically. Crucially, it could reduce reliance on systems that commodify Caribbean identities for foreign profit.

Of course, risks must be acknowledged. Digital sovereignty cannot mean digital authoritarianism. A Caribbean platform must be built with transparency, citizen input and protections against surveillance. Lessons from the failures of global platforms—from disinformation to data exploitation—must guide its design. The goal is not to replicate Silicon Valley’s extractive model, but to create something rooted in regional trust and collective benefit.

The opportunity is here. Caribbean governments are already discussing regional coordination in currency, logistics and education. Extending that conversation to digital platforms is both logical and urgent. If integration is to matter to citizens, it must reach the tools they use daily. Services, capital and technology are already explicit pillars of the CSME. Yet, while trade frameworks are being harmonised, the digital platforms that now mediate Caribbean life remain largely outside regional control. If integration is to be credible, digital sovereignty must be treated like any other service under the CSME—governed, regional and accessible. A Caribbean platform for communication, payments and cultural exchange would help fulfil the Treaty’s vision, ensuring that the region’s digital lives are not outsourced to foreign systems.

A Caribbean WeChat would not only be about technology, it would be about sovereignty, resilience and imagination. If the Caribbean is serious about its independence in the 21st century, then it must take charge not only of its borders and its seas but also of its digital lives. The question is not whether the region can afford to build such a platform, but whether it can afford not to.