The concept of the cloud functions in a similar way. The cloud can be a metaphor to suggest that data is gathered together in a remote location. It can be a template to organize how data is extracted, stored, and analyzed so that it can be managed together “in” the cloud. And the cloud, especially the Cloud Empire, can act as an episteme, a model for knowledge that organizes our social realities—even those that are not datafied—into structures that can facilitate their datafication.

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 173