The Big Five carve up the data economy under informal noncompetition that blocks rivals

Evidence

The monopoly-monopsony hybrids we are describing represent massive concentrations of power. These companies currently exercise a hold over the infrastructure that makes social quantification possible; they control everything from undersea cables to satellites to the “last mile” architecture that delivers internet service to individuals. They also control the environments or platforms in which data is being generated, the design and production of the devices through which data is collected, and the computing capacity necessary to analyze the data, including through increasingly sophisticated machine learning methods that do not require explicit human intervention. Finally, they also control the content. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 176 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Given the need to expand data extraction and to position oneself in strategic locations, it would appear that companies are tendentially drawn into similar areas. This means that, despite their differences, companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Alibaba, Uber, and General Electric (GE) are also direct competitors. — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 90 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Data extraction needs force previously separate platforms into direct competition. — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 90; A few firms vertically dominate every layer of the data extraction pipeline — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 176; The big five divide the data market without needing formal coordination. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 193

Related

• The big five divide the data market without needing formal coordination. (similarity 0.91)
• Data extraction needs force previously separate platforms into direct competition. (similarity 0.91)
• A few firms vertically dominate every layer of the data extraction pipeline (similarity 0.87)
• No single corporation possesses the claimed ‘all’ of Big Data because harvesting is competitive (similarity 0.85)
• Platform competition shifts from price to data as the competitive criterion (similarity 0.80)
• Platform companies converge into similar forms as they compete for the same data. (similarity 0.80)
• Only two dozen hyperscale firms dominated digital infrastructure in 2017 (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Data extraction needs force previously separate platforms into direct competition. #expands (0.75) — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 90
• A few firms vertically dominate every layer of the data extraction pipeline #corroborates (0.75) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 176