In the article Decoding vertical tech integrations: why do they matter? Privacy International explains how big tech is expanding their dominance:

From the Amazon rainforests to subsaharan Africa, tech companies seek to expand their dominance by investing in connectivity infrastructure. While this has certainly brought some benefits, it also raises concerns about big tech’s expansion into new territories.

The key findings are:

• Companies controlling infrastructure can significantly influence service delivery, potentially creating barriers for new competitors.
• These companies often operate in regulatory grey areas, exploiting gaps to their advantage or ignoring existing regulations.
• The markets they enter are typically dominated by a few players or, in some cases, none at all, allowing them to rapidly expand their influence.
• Service providers can scrutinise traffic using technologies, which enable them to analyse and potentially repurpose this data elsewhere in the supply chain.