Governments worldwide are embracing digital transformation,
envisioning limitless data capacities for public policy. However,
this paper uncovers a crucial oversight: the neglect of material
resources sustaining digital ecosystems. This paper introduces
contested ‘digital capacities’ in public policy, to show how the
aspiration for unlimited data processing strains local resources.
Through a comparative analysis of national digitization strategies
in the United States and the United Kingdom, this paper reveals a
disconnect between the sociotechnical imaginaries and
infrastructural demands underpinning these strategies. The
infrastructural demands are leading to social and environmental
tradeoffs in regional areas strained by digital infrastructure
development. I argue that these competing digital capacities –
the capacity to govern through digitization and related resource
capacities – provide productive data friction for governments to
pause and assess the broader social and ecological costs of their
national digitization policies. As such, this article emphasizes the
need for policymakers to align national digital governance
strategies with regional planning for equitable outcomes. By
reevaluating competing digital capacities encompassed in
national sociotechnical imaginaries, this paper highlights the
urgent need for a balanced approach to digitization.