Data economy: A discussion on value, fictitious valorisation, and national sovereignty

Abstract

In this article, we present elements for a critique of the notion of a new data economy, often portrayed as a distinct stage in capitalist development, allegedly detached from the model of flexible accumulation characteristic of the finance-dominated phase of regulation. From a Marxist perspective, we argue that data should be understood as crude raw material, devoid of value. It is only when mobilised by labour that they are transformed into informational raw material, capable of being incorporated into different production processes – as in the case of the audience-commodity – or of presenting themselves as a commodity in their own right: the information-commodity. We also put forward the hypothesis that, when simply extracted and traded as promises of future use in productive processes, crude data configure a new form of fictitious accumulation. Finally, we reflect on the oligopolistic control exercised by the big techs, most of them based in the United States, over immense volumes of data, as well as on the implications this dominance bears for the sovereignty of peripheral countries.