When Algorithms Rival Flags: Why the 21st Century’s Real Power Struggle Is No Longer Between States

When Algorithms Rival Flags: Why the 21st Century’s Real Power Struggle Is No Longer Between States

By any historical measure, it is extraordinary that the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service would warn not primarily about rival nations, but about technology companies.

Yet that is precisely what Blaise Metreweli, in her first public speech as chief of MI6, has done. Her message was unambiguous: power in the modern world is shifting, and some of it no longer flies under a national flag.

“Our world is being remade,” Metreweli said, by technologies that once belonged to the realm of science fiction. Algorithms, she warned, can now “become as powerful as states.”

This is not a rhetorical flourish. It is a sober intelligence assessment.

From Westphalia to Silicon Valley

For over three centuries, the international order has been built on a simple assumption: sovereign states monopolise power. Armies, borders, diplomacy, and law all flowed from that premise. Even multinational corporations, however wealthy, ultimately operated under state authority.

That assumption is now eroding.

Today’s technology giants command resources larger than the GDPs of many nations. They shape information flows for billions of people, influence elections without casting a single vote, and can destabilise societies faster than any traditional weapon. Their leaders are unelected, largely unaccountable, and often transnational—answering to shareholders rather than citizens.

When an algorithm determines what people see, believe, fear, or ignore, it does not merely mediate reality; it also shapes their perceptions of it. It constructs it.

Algorithms as Instruments of Power

Metreweli’s most striking warning was not about hardware or weapons, but about software. Social media algorithms, she noted, can rival states in power. This is not hyperbole.

Algorithms determine which conflicts persist and which fade away. They can amplify outrage, radicalisation, and misinformation at machine speed. In times of crisis, they can inflame ethnic tension, undermine public trust, and paralyse governments—without firing a shot.

In effect, algorithmic systems have become instruments of geopolitical influence, capable of reshaping societies from the inside. Unlike conventional power, they operate invisibly, continuously, and globally.

And unlike states, they are rarely constrained by democratic oversight.

The New Theatre of Conflict

Metreweli is right to argue that technology is “rewriting the reality of conflict.” War is no longer confined to battlefields. It unfolds in data centres, recommendation engines, and digital platforms.

Cyber operations, deepfakes, automated surveillance, and AI-driven targeting blur the line between war and peace. The result is a permanent grey zone—where manipulation replaces invasion and perception replaces territory.

In this environment, the most decisive battles are fought not over land, but over attention, narrative, and truth.

The Question That Matters Most

Perhaps the most crucial line in Metreweli’s speech was this: the defining challenge of the 21st century is not who wields the most powerful technologies, but who guides them with the most incredible wisdom.

This reframes the debate entirely.

The problem is not technology itself. It is governance. Power without wisdom has always been dangerous—whether held by emperors, generals, or corporations. What is new is the speed, scale, and opacity with which technological power now operates.

We have allowed private entities to accumulate state-like influence without state-like responsibility. That imbalance is no longer sustainable.

A Call for Democratic Reassertion

Metreweli’s warning should be read as a call to action—not just for intelligence agencies, but for democratic societies.

Governments must reclaim their regulatory role. Citizens must demand transparency and accountability. International norms must evolve to address algorithmic power, just as they have in the past to address nuclear weapons and financial systems.

The alternative is a world where unelected executives and inscrutable code shape global outcomes more decisively than parliaments or voters.

That would not be progress. It would be a quiet abdication of democracy.

Ultimately, flags still hold significance. But in the age of algorithms, wisdom—ethical, legal, and political—matters more than ever. The question is whether democracies will rise to that challenge, or sleepwalk into a future governed not by laws, but by lines of code.

Blaise Metreweli is a senior British intelligence officer who made history in 2025 by becoming the first woman to serve as Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

Who is Blaise Metreweli?

Blaise Metreweli is a career intelligence professional with decades of experience across the UK’s security architecture. Before assuming leadership of MI6, she held senior roles within Britain’s intelligence and national security ecosystem, including positions focused on counter-terrorism, cyber threats, and strategic intelligence assessment.

Her appointment itself reflects a broader shift within Western intelligence agencies: from Cold War–era state-to-state espionage toward complex, multi-actor threats involving technology firms, non-state networks, and digital platforms.

Why Her Words Matter

As MI6 chief, Metreweli speaks not as a commentator but as the custodian of Britain’s external intelligence priorities. When she warns that:

Big tech firms rival nation-states in power, and

Algorithms can shape conflict, perception, and sovereignty,

She is signalling an institutional recalibration within Western intelligence thinking.

This is not speculative philosophy; it is threat assessment

Strategic Significance of Her First Speech

Metreweli’s emphasis on:

algorithmic power,

AI-driven influence,

and the ethical governance of technology

Marks a departure from traditional intelligence rhetoric, which has focused on rival governments alone.

It acknowledges that power in the 21st century is increasingly privatised, digitised, and borderless—often escaping the constraints of international law, diplomacy, or democratic accountability.

 Blaise Metreweli, the first woman to lead MI6, has issued a stark warning of a new global order in which algorithms and tech executives rival states in power—raising urgent questions not of capability, but of wisdom and control.