data capitalism
Definition of Data Capitalism
A term coined by West (2017) closely related to Zuboff's (2015) term surveillance capitalism, data capitalism is the idea that the market is driven by user data such that people are advertised products and service based on predictions of what they may be interested in, ultimately subjecting all power to the entities that make use of the data collected. The predictions are made by gathering user data indicating their online behavior, such as websites they visit, content they consume, and other users they communicate and interact with. Because of this, users inattentively provide online platforms with a medium of exchange that is reflected back to them for the benefit of the advertisers by "showing the user what they want to see". Rather than assigning all content equal probabilities of being shown to the user, content that is likely to be interest of the user influences them to give in to what they see.
Implications of commitment to Data Capitalism
When we normalize this new form of transaction, platforms have the power to manipulate users through the content they see. While a user may think that the content they see is organic, the platform could be using an algorithm in the background to influence what the user sees. For example, the content that appears for the user could be based on their previous activity or the content that is viewed by profiles similar to the user. Next to this, entities such as other users, like influencers, or businesses can pay the platform to "boost" their content such that users are more likely to see the content. This causes weights to be introduced into the realm of content, where not all content is treated equally, and views can be influenced by payment. In the political sphere, this can cause users to believe that the content they see is representative of society, even though the content may be producing an echochamber of topics that are of interest to the user.
Societal transformations required for addressing concern raised by Data Capitalism
In order to combat data capitalism, several measures can be taken.
- Countries are taking action by introducing new regulation that protects the privacy of the user and gives back the power to the user over their data. However, the degree of regulation is not universal, so companies are taking advantage of weaker regulations to employ these practices while making their services less available to users residing in countries with stricter regulation. Elected officials in countries lacking in regulation can take action in lobbying for stronger consumer protections, and citizens can stay informed and contact their local representatives to raise this issue in their jurisdiction.
- Another method is to bring back revenue-based subscription models, where a user pays to see content on a platform, and their data is not collected. Thus, their privacy in regards to their online activity is protected, and content they are shown are not influenced by their interests or past activity.
- Corporations can also pledge to neutralize their targeted advertising algorithms by defaulting their data collection to opt-in, so users can have the choice to give their data for more content relating to their interests in return but are not pressured to do so if they want to use the service being offered.
commentJoel:: interesting implications for the Brussels effect