Second, there is a targeting of vulnerable social groups as part of the strategies of data colonialism. One thing that makes the Cloud Empire colonial is the approach of corporations and states to the oppressed. Under the Cloud Empire, everyone contributes as a raw input to capitalism, but as with old forms of colonialism, the poor (always a racialized and gendered category) continue to pay a heavier price. Here we allude to the work of authors such as Oscar Gandy, Seeta Peña Gangadharan, Virginia Eubanks, and Safiya Umoja Noble, who argue that when it comes to the poor and the vulnerable, digital “inclusion” comes at the cost of extensive data profiling, including practices that are predatory, discriminatory, exploitative, or simply degrading.

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 242