Controlling Data: A Path to Power

Data is not neutral raw material; it is a strategic asset. The entity that collects, stores, analyzes, and governs large, high‑quality data sets gains economic advantage, political influence, and operational control. That concentration of capability — to predict behavior, set markets, shape information flows, and make decisions at scale — is what turns data into power.

Primary stakeholders responsible for managing data

Big technology platforms: Companies spanning global search, social networks, cloud ecosystems, and ecommerce services accumulate vast volumes of behavioral, transactional, and location-based information derived from billions of users and activities.
Governments and regulators: States gather identity, taxation, health, telecom, and surveillance records, while also defining the policies that govern how data may be accessed and utilized.
Data brokers and aggregators: Businesses that acquire, enhance, and market consumer profiles, frequently merging public documents, purchasing histories, and inferred attributes for marketing or analytics.
Enterprises with vertical stacks: Healthcare networks, financial institutions, retail groups, and telecommunications firms maintain specialized and sensitive datasets tied to measurable real‑world outcomes.
Research institutions and public bodies: Universities and national statistical offices generate and curate scientific, demographic, and environmental data aimed at serving the public good.
Individuals and communities: People produce data through daily activities, consumption, and interactions; coordinated action and regulatory protections can gradually restore meaningful control to them.

Types of data that confer influence

Personal identifier data: Names, official identification numbers, and physical addresses, all relied upon for verification processes, oversight, and regulatory compliance.
Behavioral and interactional data: Search terms, user clicks, viewing activity, and social network connections, which serve as core inputs for customization and influence-based systems.
Transactional and financial data: Purchase records, payment details, and credit histories, forming the basis for economic analysis and adaptive pricing models.
Sensor and IoT data: Location patterns, device diagnostics, and smart home activity logs, allowing persistent observation and delivery of context-responsive functions.
Biometric and genomic data: Fingerprints, facial features, and DNA information, considered highly sensitive and applied in identity verification, medical research, and forensic activities.

How data control translates into power: mechanisms and effects

Economic moat and market power: Large data sets improve machine learning models, which improve products, driving more users and more data — a virtuous cycle that erects barriers to entry. Example: search and ad targeting have concentrated advertising markets because better data yields higher ad relevance and revenue.
Predictive advantage: Accurate predictions about behavior enable firm decisions that tilt outcomes in their favor: targeted advertising, credit scoring, fraud detection, inventory optimization.
Behavioral influence and information control: Platforms control what content is amplified or suppressed through recommendation algorithms. The Cambridge Analytica case (where harvested Facebook data was used to target political messaging) exemplifies how behavioral data can be weaponized for persuasion.
Gatekeeping and platform governance: Owners of dominant platforms can set rules for third parties, controlling market access and terms for competitors — for example, marketplace platforms that combine seller data with platform-owned products gain insights that can disadvantage independent sellers.
Surveillance and social control: Centralized access to communication, movement, and transactional data enables monitoring at scale. Government programs and private analytic tools can be combined to build predictive policing, eligibility systems, or social scoring mechanisms.
National security and geopolitical leverage: Nations with advanced digital ecosystems and access to strategic data (telecoms, critical infrastructure telemetry, citizen registries) gain operational intelligence and bargaining power in diplomacy and conflict.

Representative cases and data points

Cambridge Analytica (2016–2018): Facebook user information was extracted and repurposed to craft psychological profiles enabling finely tuned political ads, exposing the dangers of opaque third‑party data exploitation.
Platform ad ecosystems: Google and Meta have long dominated digital advertising by blending search insights, social signals, and targeting datasets to deliver highly segmented audiences to marketers.
Amazon marketplace dynamics: Amazon analyzes platform‑wide sales and search activity to streamline logistics, refine recommendations, and craft private‑label offerings, which creates tension between its role as marketplace host and competing seller.
Health data partnerships: Consumer genetics providers and health‑tracking apps have collaborated with pharmaceutical companies to speed drug development, showing how aggregated medical data can generate public value while driving commercial revenue.
Regulatory responses: The EU General Data Protection Regulation (implemented 2018) reshaped controller and processor duties and established rights such as data portability and erasure, while Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (2021) reshaped the mobile advertising landscape by limiting cross‑app IDFA tracking.

Consequences for markets, democracy, and equity

Market concentration: Data-driven strengths often give established players a dominant position, weakening competitive dynamics and potentially hindering progress in certain industries.
Privacy erosion and reidentification risk: Supposedly anonymized data can frequently be traced back to individuals when cross-referenced with additional sources, putting sensitive details at risk.
Discrimination and bias: Systems built on skewed datasets may perpetuate and even intensify inequitable patterns in areas such as credit evaluation, recruitment, law enforcement, and medical services.
Information manipulation: Targeted communication derived from granular data can deepen social divides, steer public attention, and reshape collective narratives.
Asymmetric bargaining power: People and smaller entities frequently lack the influence needed to secure equitable data-use terms, while data brokers profit from profiles created through obscure and complex data trails.

Policy, technology, and governance levers to rebalance power

Regulation and antitrust: Binding requirements on data portability, interoperability, and duties for dominant platforms can curb gatekeeper influence, with enforcement actions such as privacy penalties and continuous antitrust investigations targeting major platforms.
Data minimization and purpose limitation: Collecting only what is essential and demanding explicit, well‑defined purposes helps reduce surveillance exposure and limits unauthorized secondary uses.
Data portability and open standards: Enabling users to transfer their information across services and adopting uniform APIs lowers switching barriers while stimulating broader market competition.
Privacy‑preserving technologies: Approaches including federated learning, differential privacy, and secure multi‑party computation make it possible to train models and run analyses without aggregating raw personal information in a single location.
Data trusts and stewardship models: Independent stewards can oversee sensitive data under fiduciary duties, providing responsible access for research and activities serving the public interest.
Transparency and auditability: Requiring model interpretability, traceable provenance, and external audits supports the identification of improper use and potential bias.

Actionable guidance for both organizations and individuals

For organizations: Build clear data governance frameworks, map data flows, apply privacy‑by‑design, use synthetic data or privacy techniques when possible, and publish transparency reports about data use and model impacts.
For individuals: Use privacy controls, limit permissions, exercise data rights where available (access, deletion, portability), and prefer services that practice minimal collection and transparency.

Data control extends far beyond technical or commercial concerns; it ultimately determines who can shape markets, steer elections, set scientific agendas, and influence daily life. Power accumulates wherever data streams become exclusive, inference tools are centralized, and oversight remains unclear. Restoring balance calls for aligned legal structures, robust technical protections, thoughtful institutional arrangements, and shared cultural expectations that treat data both as an economic asset and as a form of collective social trust.