Surveillance capitalism
- Techno-totalitarianism
Nature
Surveillance capitalism is a novel economic system that has emerged in the digital era. In this version of capitalism, predicting and influencing behavior (political and economic) rather than producing goods and services is the primary product. This economic logic prioritizes extracting, processing and trading personal data to predict and influence human behavior by exploiting those predictions for various economic (marketing) and political objectives. Surveillance capitalists engineer operations to operate in secrecy, hiding their methods and intentions from users, who are unaware of the extent of data collection and analysis. Surveillance capitalism often involves partnerships with governments (public-private partnerships), leveraging favorable laws, policing and information sharing. Surveillance capitalism erodes individual autonomy as users are manipulated and influenced by algorithms designed to predict and shape their behavior.
Background
In 2014, Vincent Mosco referred to marketing information about customers and subscribers to advertisers as surveillance capitalism and made note of the surveillance state alongside it. Christian Fuchs found that the surveillance state fuses with surveillance capitalism. The concept of surveillance capitalism, as described by Shoshana Zuboff, is driven by a profit-making incentive, and arose as advertising companies, led by Google's AdWords, saw the possibilities of using personal data to target consumers more precisely.
Surveillance capitalism had its roots in the early days of the internet, when companies like Google and Facebook exploited the “ungoverned spaces” of the digital realm. The dot-com bust and the surveillance-friendly environment created by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and CIA’s investments in the “war on terror” all contributed to the rise of surveillance capitalism.
Incidence
In 2023, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission fined Meta Platforms €1.2 billion for transferring European users’ data to the United States without adequate safeguards, highlighting the ongoing international challenges and regulatory responses to surveillance capitalism in the digital economy.
Claim
Surveillance capitalism has now fused with the science and theory of psychology, marketing, and algorithmic manipulation of online information to give rise to propaganda and censorship capabilities that go far beyond those imagined by the twentieth-century predictions of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell.
The wealth generated by surveillance capitalism exacerbates economic inequality, as those who own and control the data and algorithms reap the benefits while users are exploited as free commodities.
The concentration of power in the hands of surveillance capitalists undermines democratic processes, as they use their influence to shape public opinion and policy.
Surveillance capitalism extends beyond the conventional institutional terrain of the private firm, accumulating not only surveillance assets and capital but also rights, and operating without meaningful mechanisms of consent. This has been changing power structures in the information economy, potentially shifting the balance of power further from nation-states and towards large corporations employing the surveillance capitalist logic.