{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,3]],"date-time":"2026-07-03T20:53:07Z","timestamp":1783111987982,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,1]],"date-time":"2021-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1609459200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000155","name":"Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["435-2018-1136"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["435-2018-1136"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000155","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Big Data &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Digital personal data is increasingly framed as the basis of contemporary economies, representing an important new asset class. Control over these data assets seems to explain the emergence and dominance of so-called \u201cBig Tech\u201d firms, consisting of Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google\/Alphabet, and Facebook. These US-based firms are some of the largest in the world by market capitalization, a position that they retain despite growing policy and public condemnation\u2014or \u201ctechlash\u201d\u2014of their market power based on their monopolistic control of personal data. We analyse the transformation of personal data into an asset in order to explore how personal data is accounted for, governed, and valued by Big Tech firms and other political-economic actors (e.g., investors). However, our findings show that Big Tech firms turn \u201cusers\u201d and \u201cuser engagement\u201d into assets through the performative measurement, governance, and valuation of user metrics (e.g., user numbers, user engagement), rather than extending ownership and control rights over personal data per se. We conceptualize this strategy as a form of \u201ctechcraft\u201d to center attention on the means and mechanisms that Big Tech firms deploy to make users and user data measurable and legible as future revenue streams.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/20539517211017308","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,17]],"date-time":"2021-05-17T01:59:57Z","timestamp":1621216797000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":255,"title":["Data as asset? The measurement, governance, and valuation of digital personal data by Big Tech"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2881-4623","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kean","family":"Birch","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8116-6210","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"DT","family":"Cochrane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1768-1725","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Callum","family":"Ward","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, London, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-20539517211017308","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/01972243.2012.669449"},{"key":"bibr2-20539517211017308","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/12075.003.0005"},{"key":"bibr3-20539517211017308","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0162243916661633"},{"key":"bibr4-20539517211017308","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3898\/NewF:100-101.02.2020"},{"key":"bibr5-20539517211017308","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/12075.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr6-20539517211017308","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/01442872.2020.1748264"},{"key":"bibr7-20539517211017308","unstructured":"Brynjolfsson E, Collis A (2019) How should we measure the digital economy?\n                      Harvard Business Review\n                      , Nov\u2013Dec."},{"key":"bibr8-20539517211017308","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ciuriak D (2018)\n                      Rethinking Industrial Policy for the Data-Driven Economy\n                      . 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