Like historical colonialism, data colonialism would be inherently unstable if it could not translate its methods into more enduring forms of social relations. As Nick Dyer-Witheford pointed out in an early analysis, capitalism has always approached the internet as a domain in which control over the communicative capacity of individuals would allow capital to appropriate not just labor but also, as Marx himself put it, “its network of social relations.” Data colonialism extends this network well beyond communicative capacities, ensuring the continuity of data appropriation across an expanding array of social relations.

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 84