Attempts to game algorithms still confirm data relations’ force

Evidence

Data subjects often attempt to modulate their behavior in order to influence the algorithm that they believe is categorizing them. But however well meaning, this ignores the basic point: that just by going on with the activity that brought us into data extraction’s ambit, we confirm data relations’ continued force. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 140

Categorization

• XREF: Challenges the optimization/gaming behavior literature in attention economics; the attempt to influence the categorizer is itself further data participation.
• QUESTION: Does this mean algorithmic resistance is structurally futile within data relations — or merely that it doesn’t exit the extraction loop?