Introduction
In September 2022, Elon Musk reportedly directed one of his SpaceX employees to cut off Ukraine’s access to Starlink. This satellite-based internet service had become crucial for the Ukrainian military’s battlefield connectivity. This decision resulted in a sudden communications blackout for Ukrainian troops who were simultaneously undertaking a counteroffensive operation to reclaim an occupied territory from the Russian forces. According to an official, the immediate consequences were severe as “soldiers panicked, drones surveilling Russian forces went dark, and long-range artillery units, reliant on Starlink to aim their fire, struggled to hit targets.” This episode marked one of the most profound illustrations of ‘corporate autonomy’ whereby a private transnational company exercised its digital infrastructural power to constrain a sovereign state’s coercive and operational capabilities in a kinetic conflict theatre.
