Online tracking operates as a constitutive component of today’s socio-economic order. In the context of this master’s thesis, we examine the role of data accumulation facilitated by Slovenian media outlets through an analysis of the dynamics of contemporary capitalism, positioning this work theoretically at the intersection of critical data studies and the conceptual framework of Marxist political economy. The aim of the thesis is to illuminate the processes of data accumulation enabled by media through the implementation of tracking technologies within a specific national context. Drawing on empirical evidence obtained from a sample of online media outlets through three methods, among which source code analysis is central, the thesis demonstrates a widespread deployment of tracking technologies on media websites. It identifies trackers operated by Big Tech coorporations as the most commonly used, thereby demonstrating how media reinforce what is conceptualized in the thesis as a relationship of asymmetric interdependence, characterized by competition on the one hand and structural dependence on the other. As the first systematic study of tracker use on Slovenian media websites, the thesis contributes to understanding the ways audiences generate value for commercial actors at a time when digital networks become ever more deeply embedded in the cultural and social fabric.
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