Civil-liberties concerns focus on privacy, autonomy, consent, and the risk of data concentration in a few corporations and public institutions, potentially enabling targeted manipulation or coercion.

Data is increasingly viewed as the new oil, a resource extracted by surveillance and AI training, a concept that highlights the power dynamics behind modern data capitalism.

Major tech platforms and cloud providers—Google, Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Oracle—collect vast amounts of personal and behavioral data to fuel AI development, with concerns about profiling and surveillance.

Debates intensified after the pandemic, amid rising government surveillance and the global AI race among the US, China, and Europe, with investments in AI infrastructure framed as strategic for national security and economic competitiveness.

Data colonialism describes how organizations, governments, and other actors extract digital information without meaningful consent, enabling control or influence over users’ online activities.

Indirect power concerns suggest governments and private firms could shape decisions and public life through data-driven, algorithmic governance, even without overt coercion.