INTERVIEW SERIES: Technology, Communication, and New Media INTERVIEWER: Gökhan Çolak | INTERVIEWEE: Malik Aslanyürek

Academic Journey

Could you share with us how your academic journey evolved from cinema and television studies to new media and digital labor topics?

My academic journey began with cinema. Being present on film sets with our elder, Prof. Semir Aslanyürek, from a young age played a significant role in my decision to study cinema. I even did my internship on his film during my undergraduate years. However, the harsh competition and capitalist structure of the industry led me toward academia. Deep down, I always knew I wanted to be an academic. I discovered my teaching inclination by explaining lessons to my classmates; the sense of belonging I felt in the classroom was far more genuine than on set.

When I began my master’s at Gazi University, I was introduced to communication sciences through the courses of Prof. Serdar Öztürk and Prof. Dr. M. Sezai Türk. At the same time, following discussions about the Snowden-NSA scandal and privacy violations on platforms like TeknoSeyir directed me toward online privacy. This is why my master’s thesis focused on online privacy.

During my PhD, I encountered Christian Fuchs’ work on digital labor. Although I initially considered writing a thesis on cinema, I challenged myself and decided to conduct a critical communication study. That’s when I shifted toward digital labor. To undertake such work, I realized I needed to deeply understand capitalism. I devoted two years to grasping Marx’s theory and the economic literature. During the pandemic, I read over two hundred books to complete this transformation. Due to its difficulty and the time it required, my PhD thesis took a long time to write.

In my work, I prefer to combine historical materialism and dialectics with a narrative style. Cinema taught me aesthetics and how to tell stories through images, while Marx gave me the language of rebellion. Today, my work combines the storytelling power of cinema with communication sciences and critical political economy. In both academia and my involvement with Heavy Metal music, I ask the same question: how do exploitation and domination operate within the capitalist system we live in? How is human labor exploited in this age? How does this structure transform all of us, and how can we break this chain?

Digital Labor Exploitation

Your PhD thesis examines Facebook’s political economy. How do you define digital labor exploitation occurring through user data on social media platforms?

The essence of capitalism is exploitation; the laborer’s sweat turns into someone else’s capital. Today, this is staged on our screens. Social media platforms may seem to provide a “free service,” but in reality, we are their largest workers. The content we create, the likes we give, every photo we share becomes a piece of data. This data is monetized and sold to advertisers, generating enormous profits.

But we do not receive wages for our labor; we are content with merely existing on the platform. As Marx said, labor’s reward should be money to buy means of subsistence so we can reproduce our labor. When labor is not compensated, exploitation occurs. Therefore, what happens on all social networks—from Facebook to Instagram, X to TikTok—is the most invisible yet widespread form of modern exploitation. Christian Fuchs calls this “digital labor exploitation.”

The Economic Aspect of Social Media

What risks does the economic structure behind social media companies’ “free services” pose to users?

In capitalism, exploitation leads to alienation. The laborer becomes alienated from their work, production tools, other workers, and ultimately from themselves. Capitalist alienation hides the fact that laborers are being exploited.

“Free service” is thus one of modernity’s greatest illusions. The payment is not in money but in our minds and identity. Social media’s economic structure does not only commodify our data; it alienates us from our production. We create, like, and comment, but the output becomes the platform’s capital. What occurred in the factory in Marx’s era is mirrored today in front of our screens.

Moreover, platforms target our brain’s reward-punishment system. “Like” buttons, infinite scroll, notifications—all trigger dopamine, making us addicted. We are in a lab designed to make us produce more data voluntarily. The means of production are algorithms; we, the users, are “free” laborers.

Social approval and competition are integrated into the economy. Likes, comments, followers—these transform our basic need for belonging into a capitalist game. Just as factory workers alienated themselves from others, social media users alienate from each other: friendship, solidarity, and sharing are replaced by follower counts, engagement metrics, and the algorithm’s favor. We are alienated from our labor, our self, and from each other.

Social media also places narcissism at the center. Platforms encourage self-exhibition and approval-seeking. The most liked post or viewed video is deemed “valuable.” High quality or social solidarity is sidelined; individual shine is rewarded. Everyone markets themselves, and the algorithm directs this narcissism for profit.

The Collapse of Digital Privacy

In your books, you discuss the collapse of privacy. How would you evaluate society’s current awareness of online privacy?

After 9/11 in the US, states and companies gained near-unlimited surveillance power. Digital surveillance became integral to life. This led to what Shoshana Zuboff calls “surveillance capitalism,” where data monetization became one of capitalism’s most profitable sectors. The collapse of privacy refers precisely to this.

There is some awareness in society today. People know their data is tracked and monetized. However, this awareness rarely translates into action. People continue using the same apps—voluntary surveillance.

Real change requires translating awareness into practices. As Cal Newport suggests in Digital Minimalism: “Use it only if it serves you; if not, don’t use it.” The key is conscious usage, not mindless consumption. Freedom is impossible without escaping surveillance.

WhatsApp and the Privacy Crisis

Your work on WhatsApp’s privacy policy revealed key findings. Do users truly understand the value of their data?

The value of data, as Marx might argue, is labor. But social media platforms offer no mechanism to measure the real value of our data. Like Coca-Cola’s secret formula, it is hidden. Meta Platforms, owned by Zuckerberg, is a trillion-dollar company on the stock market—they won’t disclose this.

Beyond this, we cannot reclaim time. Our most valuable data is our time. Every scroll, every click reflects choices. Do these choices bring us closer to ourselves or alienate us further?

Individuals must assess value in their own time and terms. Time spent unproductively cannot be compensated by any “free service.” Wasting time is voluntarily polishing one’s chains.

Academia and Society

How do your new media studies contribute to younger generations and university students?

Social media is like a drug: beneficial in moderation, harmful in excess. My work does not portray it as entirely negative, but balance is crucial.

Awareness comes through critical thinking. Understanding economic structures, power, and exploitation is necessary. I teach students critical digital media literacy, showing them how systems work so they can carve their own paths. My course The Political Economy of Social Media illustrates: media does not just entertain—it shapes.

Digital Security and Threats

With increasing cybersecurity risks, which areas should individuals and institutions focus on first?

Security is multi-dimensional: software, hardware, individual, institutional, state. Institutions must ensure technical security; states must provide regulation and strong cyber defense.

Individually, basic measures—strong passwords, avoiding phishing, checking app permissions—are crucial. Often, attacks exploit human weaknesses, not technical flaws.

Education is critical. Children should learn not only to use devices but to defend themselves digitally. Future digital security is tied to freedom.

New Media and Communication Theories

How has new media forced existing communication models to adapt?

Every new communication form both feeds and is fed by capitalism. Traditional media was one-way; new media merges producer and consumer—“prosumer.” Henry Jenkins sees this as democratic, but true equality is absent. Platform owners control the rules, and access is unequal.

New media is a surveillance apparatus with the illusion of freedom. Communication is commodified; free and work time blur. Exploitation is now 24/7 in our pockets. Traditional models (two-step flow, agenda-setting) still apply but across platforms. Critical theories adapt or expand.

In essence, slavery has transformed. Marx said feudalism was freer than slave society; industrial capitalism more exploitive than feudalism. Today, post-industrial capitalism is even more pervasive.

Artistic Production and Academia

You also create art. How does combining art and academia deepen intellectual work?

Music is my greatest passion. For 20 years, I’ve lived with rock and metal, attending festivals, writing album reviews, translating lyrics. Economic and academic constraints prevented forming a band, but AI-assisted music production enabled me to create music at home. I combined folk melodies with metal, explored societal decay in Doom Metal, and these works are now on Spotify.

Art and academia are complementary. Academic theory informs my lyrics and compositions. I translate analytical concepts—exploitation, alienation, surveillance capitalism—into riffs, vocals, and symphonic passages. Theory writes; art makes it felt.

Art accelerates the heart of academia. Theory provides discipline; art injects emotion, rebellion, and color. Both share the same source: the pursuit of human liberation.

Future Perspective

Where do you foresee the most critical transformation in new media over the next decade?

The key conflict will not be human vs. human, but human vs. data and AI. Labor under capitalism will reshape. As Fordist mass production transformed industrial capitalism, and flexible production redefined post-Fordism, labor and professions face a new turning point.

AI is now a worker and even a boss. Marx’s theory of surplus value is being rewritten digitally. Our struggle is economic, but also over identity, freedom, and existence.

The crucial question: will technology serve humanity, or will humanity serve technology? Media production and consumption will adapt accordingly—from text to long-form videos to short clips, and beyond.

Ultimately, the next decade will hinge not on technology alone, but on human response. The question is political at heart: “Will we control the algorithms, or will the algorithms control us?”