Digital Exploitation in E-Learning: Platform Power, Datafication, Learner Agency, and The Emergence of Digital Educational Justice

Abstract

The rapid expansion of digital and online education has transformed access to learning, communication, assessment, and educational resources. However, the increasing dependence of education on digital platforms raises critical questions concerning learner autonomy, datafication, privacy, platform dependency, artificial intelligence (AI), commercialization, and the distribution of value generated through digital participation. This article develops the concept of Digital Exploitation in E-Learning (DEE) and proposes a theoretical framework for understanding how apparently beneficial digital educational systems may produce extractive relationships under conditions of unequal technological and informational power. Drawing upon a critical synthesis of scholarship on platformization, datafication, learner agency, artificial intelligence, digital inequality, and educational governance, this study argues that digital exploitation cannot be reduced to financial overcharging or technological exclusion. Rather, it involves the systematic extraction of financial, temporal, informational, academic, behavioral, and attentional value from learners while their capacity to understand, negotiate, or challenge these processes remains constrained. Evidence concerning learner ownership emphasizes learner-centered design, accessible infrastructure, and resilient support ecosystems, while research in Global South contexts identifies heightened concerns surrounding access, AI readiness, privacy, agency, and systemic inequality (Sembiring, 2026, pp. 649–650; Van den Berg, 2026, pp. 807–808). The article proposes an integrated DEE Model connecting digitalization, platformization, dependency, information asymmetry, datafication, value extraction, and agency/capability effects, moderated by digital literacy, transparency, privacy protection, human oversight, accountability, and redress. Ultimately, this study contributes a theory-building framework for future empirical research and advances the conceptual foundations of Digital Educational Justice.