At the core of data colonialism is the creation of a new type of social relation that we call “data relations,” as defined in detail later. Data relations make the appropriation of human beings’ data seem normal, just the way things are. Data relations are of many sorts, but all share one basic feature: they ensure informational resources (data) for capitalism in areas of human life that, previously, were not considered direct inputs to production. Far outside the sphere of normal productive activity, ordinary social interaction is increasingly lived in environments of continuous data collection, behavior prediction, and choice shaping. But this is possible only because social actors now enter more or less voluntarily into data relations that secure regular data flows for capital. The drive to expand data relations explains a lot about contemporary capitalism. So, for example, it is the need to make data relations routine everywhere that drives Facebook’s offer of simplified internet connection (Facebook Free Basics) in more than twenty countries with weak or uneven internet infrastructure, principally in Africa. The emergence of data relations increasingly complements labor relations’ contribution to capitalism’s reproduction.

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 85