Surveillance Capitalism

Surveillance capitalism is the economic system built on the collection, analysis, and monetization of personal behavioral data to predict and modify human behavior for commercial purposes. The term was coined by Harvard Business School professor Shoshana Zuboff in her 2018 book of the same name. Google and Facebook are its canonical examples: both offer free products in exchange for continuous surveillance of their users' behavior, which is then packaged and sold to advertisers.

What it means

The key insight is that you're not the customer — you're the product. Every search, click, like, and scroll is tracked, compiled into a behavioral profile, and used to serve targeted advertising. The more accurate the profile, the more valuable it is to advertisers. This creates an incentive to surveil as thoroughly as possible and to keep users on the platform as long as possible — which explains why these platforms are optimized for engagement and emotion rather than user wellbeing.

Surveillance capitalism also creates a structural tension with free speech: platforms that depend on advertiser revenue have strong incentives to remove content that makes advertisers uncomfortable, regardless of its legality or truth value.

How it works on Gab

Gab differs from canonical surveillance-capitalism examples in important ways: it doesn't sell user data to data brokers, and its moderation isn't driven by advertiser boycotts on controversial-but-legal speech. Gab does run advertising — including third-party ads and retargeting through Gab Ads — alongside GabPRO subscriptions and community investment. GabPRO offers an ad-free feed for users who want it.

Related terms

Surveillance capitalism operates through tracking pixels, ad retargeting, third-party cookies, and data brokers. It's the business model of Big Tech. Digital sovereignty is the resistance movement against it.