A handful of unelected executives control the world’s information and social connection

Evidence

Surveillance capitalism’s ability to keep democracy at bay produced these stark facts. Two men at Google who do not enjoy the legitimacy of the vote, democratic oversight, or the demands of shareholder governance exercise control over the organization and presentation of the world’s information. One man at Facebook who does not enjoy the legitimacy of the vote, democratic oversight, or the demands of shareholder governance exercises control over an increasingly universal means of social connection along with the information concealed in its networks. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 406

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s foundational attention/platform/surveillance reading — the concentration of informational power in a few unaccountable hands echoes the broader surveillance-capital thesis. — connects to: Tech CEOs publicly described total knowledge of users as their ambition — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1581; Platform executives speak as social theorists to legitimize their data extraction models — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 426; Corporations treat streamed social data as a management surface — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 419 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Platform executives speak as social theorists to legitimize their data extraction models #exemplifies (0.82) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 426
• Corporations treat streamed social data as a management surface #expands (0.75) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 419