Meanings
- derogatoryuncountablesocial mediaA system where the intellectual property generated by users is owned and sold by just a few digital platforms.
Here's one: digital sharecropping will not be long for this world. Of all the terms that creators from the sharing economy will demand, the right to own their creativity will be central.
2008, Lawrence Lessig, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, Penguin, →ISBN1 more example
When all is said and done, the notion of a hybrid economy turns out to be nothing more than an upbeat version of digital sharecropping, a scenario in which all of us have the right to remix sounds and images and spread them through networks that profit from our every move.
2014, Astra Taylor, The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN
Origin
Coined by Nicholas G. Carr in 2006.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
digital sharecropping. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/digital%20sharecropping
“digital sharecropping.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/digital%20sharecropping. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “digital sharecropping,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/digital%20sharecropping.
Source: digital sharecropping on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.