This podcast episode, "Empowerment or Control? Surveillance Capitalism and the Algorithmic Capture of Affect" explores the conflict between the perceived empowerment offered by digital platforms and the underlying reality of surveillance capitalism. It argues that while platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and TikTok promise wider reach and smarter matches, they operate through an architecture of surveillance capitalism that extracts, predicts, and manipulates human behavior, treating users as "raw material." The discussion draws on Zuboff's concept of surveillance capitalism, where behavioral data becomes the most valuable commodity, and the aim is to modify user behavior for profit .... The episode also incorporates affect theory, particularly Marxist perspectives, to highlight how platforms engineer affective states like outrage and hope to maintain engagement.... Real-world examples in hiring, policing, and social media illustrate how algorithmic governance can automate and amplify existing societal inequalities .... The podcast emphasizes that surveillance capitalism functions by capturing and modulating users' emotions, turning affective rhythms into commodities.... Ultimately, the episode concludes that achieving real digital empowerment requires algorithmic transparency, democratic control of data infrastructures, and emotional literacy to resist affective capture .... The central question posed is whether technologies that steer our emotions and actions while making us feel free can truly offer digital freedom