This study aimed to understand issues involving the habitual and academic uses of social networks platforms by undergraduate students at the Federal Institute of Goiás, and their relationship with the platformization of society and digital colonialism. To achieve this, a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach was employed, initially supported by a quantitative approach, with the application of a questionnaire to 1051 students. It was then followed by a qualitative perspective, using focus groups to deepen and complement the results obtained in the first investigative phase. The results indicate a process of educational platformization at IFG, where social networks platforms, dominated by large technology companies, increasingly encroach on the educational model of this institution. It also reveals that students use these platforms to complement their learning and consider them essential tools for their educational journey. This integration involving social networks platforms raises concerns about a new form of colonization, this time of a digital nature, where the commercial interests of technology companies can influence the pedagogical practices and educational dynamics at IFG. To mitigate these effects, it is suggested that the institution invest in internal learning platforms and incorporate critical digital education in its curriculum, as strategies to increase its autonomy over the formal learning model it adopts.