The monopoly-monopsony hybrids we are describing represent massive concentrations of power. These companies currently exercise a hold over the infrastructure that makes social quantification possible; they control everything from undersea cables to satellites to the “last mile” architecture that delivers internet service to individuals. They also control the environments or platforms in which data is being generated, the design and production of the devices through which data is collected, and the computing capacity necessary to analyze the data, including through increasingly sophisticated machine learning methods that do not require explicit human intervention. Finally, they also control the content.

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 176