Disclaimer
This article dives deeper into personal thinking rather than covering factual news. Use this as a disclaimer: everything from here on is opinion-based. You don’t have to agree with it, but I ask that you take a moment to understand where I’m coming from.
There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
There is no such thing as a free lunch. It’s a common phrase you hear in an introductory economics class—something professors repeat over and over again. Yet it is rarely taken into consideration. Few people truly understand what it means, so what does it mean? Well, its somewhat simple… nothing is truly free. And if it is free, then you are the product.
In the twenty-first century, social media has taken over everything, absolutely everything. Platforms like TikTok, Meta Platforms (Instagram and Facebook), and X, along with many others, allow individuals to upload, consume, and interact with like-minded ideas instantly. So what’s the issue with that? Do you remember the notion that “there is no such thing as a free lunch”? In this situation, you may not be paying money to use these social media platforms, but you are paying with your identity, your data, your mind.
“Knowledge is power” has been a phrase that has been well echoed through time, and still has been in the era of the silicon age.
Theft in Broad Daylight
Social media corporations have normalized a “theft” of private information through deceptive consent, creating a global infrastructure where everyday people are transformed into a breathing profile. This data is no longer just for marketing purposes and targeted ads; it has been repurposed into a political weapon used for surgical microtargeting, voter suppression, and most importantly, state led surveillance- fundamentally eroding the concept of individual sovereignty, privacy and democratic integrity.
The Process to Digitize You
In order to understand the issue at hand, we first need to understand how the process works. The first stage involves creating what is often referred to as a digital twin, a version of you that exists solely within a data center. This version does not just contain your name or email address; it knows almost everything about you. It captures your subconscious biases.
Using algorithms, companies compile a personality model based on the Big Five (OCEAN) personality framework, which can predict how receptive a user is to fear, anger, or openness. This data is typically gathered through third-party applications or shadow profiles.
What I have just described is a severely watered-down version of a process used by major corporations to create millions of internal psychological profiles. These profiles are then sold to larger corporations or data brokers who, while operating within the bounds of what is barely legal, often function in deeply unethical ways.
Weaponization of Data
You are probably thinking, “Okay, they know things about me. How does that change my life?” It’s a fair question. The consequences, however, are far more severe than most people realize.
Once the data is refined into a more “readable” format, its weaponized through Political Microtargeting. A very real and worrisome example has already happened, a decade ago.
During the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, a company known as Cambridge Analytica obtained data from millions of Facebook profiles, often without explicit consent. The data was then used to build psychological profiles based on traits similar to the Big Five personality model.
They identified individuals who were worried about immigration and targeted them with fear-based advertisements about border security. They found voters frustrated with the political establishment at the time and showed them anti-elite messaging tailored to those frustrations.
One could argue that this is acceptable, since you are identifying specific concerns and addressing them.
My response?
No.
This is severely unethical. It involves using personal fears and vulnerabilities to manufacture emotionally charged advertisements in order to push an agenda further, all while maintaining little to no accountability for delivering on the promises being made. It is a form of psychological warfare: shaping reality around the individual to reinforce existing biases, ultimately trapping them in an echo chamber of curated information.
"We're Watching You"
For half a decade Washington and Beijing have been locked in a high stakes standoff over the digital exhaust of the American public. At the center of this storm is TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance. In the early 2020s the platform faced a firestorm of scrutiny as intelligence officials alleged it functioned as a digital Trojan Horse. The concern was more than just viral trends. It was about the mass extraction of sensitive data like precise geolocation metadata and biometric markers that critics feared the Chinese Communist Party could weaponize for foreign espionage and influence operations.
The ultimatum was clear. For TikTok to keep operating in the US it had to sell its most valuable assets to a company that held the national interest at heart. After a fierce bidding war against Microsoft the enterprise giant Oracle won. On January 22 2026 the transition finalized with the formation of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. This is a new majority American owned entity. This victory for national security has introduced a new and perhaps more intimate paradox. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is more than just a tech mogul. He is a vocal architect of a future defined by omnipresent supervision. Ellison has argued that a world of constant AI monitoring is the key to a safer society. He stated in late 2024 that citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on.
In Ellison’s vision the off switch is a relic of the past. His agenda includes always on police body cameras that record even during private breaks and a unified national database that tracks the digital twin of every citizen. It feels less like a solution to foreign spying and more like the missing chapters of George Orwell’s 1984. Surveillance is no longer a theft by a foreign power. It is now a built-in feature of our own domestic infrastructure.
Since the January transition of TikTok, it has now also become a weaponized tool. With the tyranny of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), many users are also posting to social media about language found in the policy, which says that TikTok could collect sensitive information about its users, including their “sexual life or sexual orientation, status as transgender or nonbinary, citizenship or immigration status.”
This is not a new venture for Ellison. He has donated over 16 million dollars in a single gift to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) making him the largest private donor in the organization's history. His total contributions to Israeli military causes are estimated to exceed 30 million dollars. This deep tie to the Israeli military apparatus reflects his broader commitment to state-level surveillance. The connection is clear. The same technology used to monitor occupied territories is now being imported into the American social media landscape. For Ellison data is not a commodity for sale but a tool for order. Under Oracle's control the "sensitive data" clauses in the new policy act as a digital dragnet. It allows agencies like ICE to identify vulnerable populations by simply tapping into the existing data flow. In this new era your phone is no longer just a window to the world. It is a GPS-tracked testimony for the state.
Closing Remarks
In the end, nothing about this system is accidental. The platforms may be free, but the cost is paid in privacy, autonomy, and, increasingly, influence over how people think and act. Data has become the most valuable resource of the modern age, and ordinary individuals are its primary source. The danger is not just that information is collected, but that it can be used to predict, persuade, and pressure without our awareness. When that power is concentrated in the hands of corporations or governments, the line between service and control begins to blur. If there is no such thing as a free lunch, then the real question is simple: what are we giving up in exchange for convenience, and who ultimately benefits from the deal?
- Saaim Japanwala
Community
Leave your thoughts down below, please make sure to follow Rules and Regulations. Looking forward too see the discussions!