Key Insights
- Big Tech firms leverage ownership and control over digital assets to construct and extract value, shaping techno-economic power dynamics.
- Digital rentiership, characterized by ownership extension in the digital realm, poses challenges for competition policy, market innovation, and equitable economic distribution.
- Policy actions are needed to address the implications of digital rentiership, including concerns related to data monopolies, regulatory governance, and market dynamics in the digital sphere.
Imagine a company owning not just the apps on your phone, but the phone itself, the operating system, and even the app store where you get more apps. That’s what researchers call “digital rentiership,” and a new study suggests Big Tech companies like Google, Apple, and Amazon are increasingly using it to tighten their grip on the digital world.
So, what’s the story?
This study, titled “Big Tech: Four Emerging Forms of Digital Rentiership”, dives into the rise of Big Tech and how they’re making money differently than traditional companies. Instead of just selling products or services, they’re renting out access to their digital ecosystems. Think app stores, cloud storage, and online platforms – all controlled by a few powerful players.
How do they do it?
The researchers identified four key ways Big Tech extracts value:
- Owning the digital land: From devices to platforms, Big Tech controls the infrastructure millions of us rely on daily.
- Renting access to data: Our online activity generates valuable data, which Big Tech collects and uses to target ads and make predictions about our behavior.
- Creating “walled gardens”: Big Tech often makes it difficult to move your data or switch to competing platforms, locking you in their ecosystem.
- Setting the rules: They control the platforms and marketplaces, giving them power over how businesses and developers operate.
What does this mean for us?
This concentration of power raises concerns about:
- Competition: If one company controls everything, where’s the innovation? Smaller players might struggle to compete.
- Fairness: Big Tech’s dominance could affect how information is spread and who gets to participate in the digital economy.
- Regulation: Do we need new rules to ensure a level playing field and protect user privacy?
The future of the digital world depends on how we address these challenges. This study is a wake-up call, urging us to think critically about who controls the digital space and how it shapes our lives.
Reference
Kean Birch & D. T. Cochrane (2022) Big Tech: Four Emerging Forms of Digital Rentiership, Science as Culture, 31:1, 44-58, DOI: 10.1080/09505431.2021.1932794
Image credits: Christian Wiediger, Marvin Meyer, NordWood Themes
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