In a world where data traffic accelerates with every step we take, with every post shared on social media, every song streamed on digital platforms, and every cat photograph liked, the domain of Big Data is expanding at an unprecedented rate. This relentless surge in information raises a critical and often unsettling question: Who benefits from all this data? As the anonymous saying goes, "If data is being collected, someone is watching.” This deceptively simple line reflects a deeper geopolitical truth: data is not just a byproduct of digital life, but a strategic asset of immense value. The ongoing "data boom” is not a trend to be passively observed; instead, it is a structural transformation that is quietly reconfiguring the global architecture of power, surveillance and influence. To underestimate its implications would be a profound strategic mistake.

Acceleration of data production

According to recent reports, 90% of the world’s data has been generated in just the last two years. This claim is both staggering and sobering. While earlier years passed with relatively moderate digital expansion, the past two years have witnessed a dramatic and historically unprecedented acceleration in data production. This is not simply about more content being uploaded; on the contrary, it is about a fundamental shift in the scale, speed and saturation of our global information ecosystem.

In today’s digitally saturated world, the numbers speak for themselves. As of mid-2025, the world generates an estimated 402.74 million terabytes of data per day; nearly 0.4 zettabytes daily, or approximately 147 zettabytes annually. Just two years ago, the figure stood at 120 zettabytes, and by the end of this year, we are projected to reach 181 zettabytes. To grasp the scale of this exponential growth, consider that global data output has increased 74-fold since 2010. The sheer velocity of this transformation is difficult to comprehend: nearly all of humanity’s digital record has emerged in the span of just two years. This is not a digital surge; it is a deep reordering of how knowledge, presence and power are constructed and contested in the 21st century.

Fueling this explosion is our intensifying reliance on digital infrastructure and services. As of June 2025, 5.56 billion people, nearly 68% of the global population, are online. The internet has become a foundational layer of everyday life, not a luxury. Mobile phones now account for over 63% of global web traffic, cementing a mobile-first digital culture that determines not only how we access information but also what types of content dominate. Video leads the way, accounting for 53.7% of all internet traffic, followed by social media (12.7%) and online gaming (9.9%). Together, these three sectors comprise more than three-quarters of global digital flows, illustrating the magnetic pull of immersive and interactive content in the attention economy.

Social media usage mirrors and amplifies these trends. With over 5.3 billion active identities, equating to nearly 65% of the world’s population and over 94% of internet users, platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok have each crossed the 1 billion user mark, with Facebook alone reaching 3.07 billion monthly active users. Users now engage with an average of seven platforms per month, spending more than two hours per day navigating these ecosystems, adding up to over 4 trillion hours annually on social media alone. This volume is not merely a matter of entertainment; it is a vast, distributed infrastructure of behavioral data, sentiment capture, and algorithmic influence.

Yet, what often goes unacknowledged is that data is no longer created solely by people. The rapid proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices – from smartwatches and connected vehicles to industrial sensors and citywide surveillance grids – is quietly reshaping the data landscape. IoT technologies are projected to generate 73.1 zettabytes annually by the end of 2025, contributing to an ever-expanding, automated data ecosystem. In this machine-to-machine architecture, devices collect, analyze and transmit data continuously, often without human awareness, making it one of the most potent yet invisible engines of global digital expansion.

Shift of sovereignty

Understanding the power of this data requires more than technical capacity; it demands strategic clarity. Data is the foundation: objective, unfiltered, and often overwhelming. It captures what happens but offers no guidance on its own. Observation is the act of discerning patterns, identifying meaning, and connecting dots, and it is the step where information begins to breathe. Insight, finally, is the moment when those patterns reveal a hidden truth, offering clarity and advantage. Insight transforms information into leverage, enabling actors to anticipate, decide, and act. In today’s information-rich landscape, the real currency of power lies not in data collection alone, but in the ability to translate that data into foresight and influence.

These developments are not abstract. They carry profound strategic consequences for governance, diplomacy and the international system. As states grapple with regulating artificial intelligence, managing cross-border data flows, and ensuring cybersecurity, the architecture of global data has emerged as a key arena of geopolitical competition. International relations in the AI era will be shaped as much by data infrastructures and model standards as by treaties and diplomatic summits. Petabytes and zettabytes are becoming the currency of political leverage: informing decisions, influencing perceptions, and defining geopolitical boundaries.

This accelerating reality brings data sovereignty back into sharp focus. As I have argued in previous op-eds for Daily Sabah, the classical concept of sovereignty is undergoing a profound transition. Globalization challenged its traditional contours, but the rise of the technopolar world, where power resides in code, infrastructure, and platforms, has rendered that old paradigm obsolete. Today, if states wish to build true digital autonomy, they must first secure control over their data environments. In a hyperconnected international order shaped by cloud hegemons and algorithmic governance, data sovereignty is no longer a bureaucratic or technical issue. It is a question of national survival, strategic foresight, and global relevance.

This shift demands more than rhetorical recognition; it calls for strategic investment and institutional reform. States must develop robust legal frameworks for data governance, invest in sovereign cloud infrastructure, and establish clear rules for cross-border data flows that reflect their national interests. Diplomatic capacity must also evolve. Ministries of foreign affairs need digital expertise – not only to negotiate international tech standards, but to anticipate how data-driven systems affect global influence, economic competitiveness, and democratic resilience.

Moreover, the rise of AI intensifies this urgency. Advanced models are trained on vast datasets, often gathered without transparency or accountability. Without control over their data ecosystems, states risk becoming consumers, not creators, of digital intelligence. In this context, data sovereignty is the foundation upon which ethical AI, secure infrastructure and strategic autonomy will either be built or lost. The window for shaping the global data order is rapidly closing. Those who fail to act now may soon find their sovereignty outsourced, not to other states, but to algorithms.