Another factor that makes the Cloud Empire colonial is the enormous role that transnational corporate networks play in keeping the system running. In such an environment, we see the emergence of what Philip Stern called the "company-state": a corporation with immense powers to regulate not just trade but also law, land, and liberty—in short, to regulate life. At the same time, as Immanuel Wallerstein points out, capitalism (and by extension, colonialism) cannot flourish without the active participation of the state, which controls the relations of production by legalizing (or refusing to regulate) certain forms of labor, such as slavery in the past or temporary or gig-based work nowadays. Thus, it is powerful corporations operating in collaboration with powerful states that are defining the new colonial geographies and constructing a different social and economic order. The world is conquered and divided roughly along old lines but with new motives. A clear axis is emerging that reflects the divisions of political and economic power and influence in today's world, with China and the United States at opposite ends of that axis but equally engaged in rampant data colonialism.

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 162