Big tech and AI firms are earning up to $162,492 in commercial value from each internet user across their digital lifetime through their personal data.

This is according to a white paper from Web3 Foundation, which examind the commercial value generate by personal data harveste and sold by big tech.

Each year, tech companies earn about $2,206 per user in the UK, earning $8,500 from each US user, with an average of $407 per user in the rest of the world.

In the UK, this eqautes to a digital lifetime value of $260,542 (~£194,000) per person.

Web3 Foundation created a benchmark for measuring this economic value, looking across a wider modern data economy, which includes advertising platforms, AI subscription businesses, API providers, enterprise software, data brokers, marketplaces, algorithmic recommendations, hardware-linked ecosystems, and AI-drive cost savings.

While the paper does not claim that each individual internate user is owed an exact sum of money from big tech, it does seek to point out the major imbalances in data collection and the inherent but often hidden contract of internet usage.

The research also points out that it isn’t only big names that are taking advantage of people’s data – 129 companies were assessed in the study, ranging from data brokers to AI subscription firms.

Internet users continue to use major websites, search engines, and browsers without directly paying a price – the paper seeks to make more people aware that they are not just a customer getting a free pass, but a product themselves.

The report found that nine in ten internet users accept privacy policies in less than ten seconds. A tiny fraction – between one and three per cent – read terms and conditions in full.

The paper argues that people therefore have little idea of the contract they enter when they use the internet, from social media to simple internet browsing.

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Personal data is allowing tech companies to rake in billions, with people thinking they are benefitting from these services for free. Simply clicking ‘Accept All Cookies’ on any given website gives away massive amounts of data to brokers and advertisers.

This economy is expanding, the paper argues, outside of capital ‘B’ Big Tech and into healthcare, finance, ecommerce – subscriptions services to supermarkets could be building a detailed dataset on your personal preferences, location, and browsing and buying habits.

The paper attempts to shed a light on the shoddy transaction of consumer data to companies, exposing that the ‘free’ internet has a major cost, and a major pay out for tech firms taking advantage of the system they created.