The Internet of Landlords: Digital Platforms and New Mechanisms of Rentier Capitalism

Abstract

Digital platforms are a nearly ubiquitous form of intermediary and infrastructure in society. By positioning platforms in the geographical political economy/ ecology literature, this paper provides a critical analysis of platforms as a dominant form of rentier in contemporary capitalism. In doing so, I extend this work on rent theory beyond applications to land and nature so that it also includes platforms and data. I argue that the rapid rise of the "X-as-a-service" business model across nearly all sectors of the economy is creating rentier relations by another name. This model is premised on the platform latching onto and inserting itself into the production, circulation, or consumption process, thus creating opportunities to capture value. To better understand the operations and implications of platforms, I outline three key mechanisms: data extraction, digital enclosure, and capital convergence.

Assets and assetization in financialized capitalism

“…Indeed, anticipating future research on assets and assetization, there are indications that it can also contribute towards a sharper appreciation of the wider-ranging and discrete production of political economies of rent and investment in contemporary capitalism. For example, in the global digital economy that has boomed over the recent decade (see Atal, this volume), platforms appropriate rent due to their positioning as intermediaries who own and control the infrastructural assets of digital space (Sadowski, 2020). Platform businesses are also themselves the objects of assetization processes that render them investable by venture capital, private equity firms, banks and other institutions (Langley & Leyshon, 2017).…”

Towards an economic geography of FinTech

“…Over time, could we perhaps consider a shift from GPNs as a form of capitalist organization and accumulation towards global production platforms, in which user-generated data, algorithmic framings of risks and markets, and digital intermediation become not only a key source of revenue but also significant modes of control of production and consumption? Such a substantive debate is beyond the current scope of this paper, but some scholars are starting to engage with the concept of platforms and consider their theoretical implications for issues of value, rent, modes of accumulation and governance (Haberly et al, 2019;Sadowski, 2020;Zook and Blankenship, 2018), which will shape scholarly thinking on the spatial organization and uneven outcomes of economic activities. Research on the growth and development of IFCs also needs to consider more seriously the locational decisions of FinTech firms and institutions, how they intersect with networks of knowledge and clusters of innovation, and the forms of capital, regulatory and organizational structures that are integral to the evolution of IFCs.…”

The future of value in digitalised higher education: why data privacy should not be our biggest concern

“…Central business models in the digital economy are data-driven and enabled by digital platforms (Srnicek, 2017). These models only strengthened their presence since the global financial crisis of 2008 as tech giants and new platforms gained dominant levels of power and wealth (Sadowski, 2020a). Measured in market capitalisation, seven out of eight top companies in the world use platform-based business models (UNCTAD, 2019).…”