(C) Common Dreams This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Algorithms of Exploitation [1] [] Date: 2026-05-13 Over the past decade, digital labor platforms have expanded rapidly, reshaping how work is organized. Through apps, companies now manage labor across sectors ranging from taxi and food delivery to logistics, domestic services, care work, and online tasks like data labelling and content moderation. Many of the largest platforms are multinational corporations operating across dozens of countries. Uber, for example, is headquartered in the United States and operates in more than 70 countries. Delivery Hero, headquartered in Germany, operates under a network of subsidiaries, including HungerStation and Talabat, across the Middle East and North Africa. Human Rights Watch research on the human rights impact of the US gig economy found that platform companies tend to exercise significant control over how and when workers perform tasks, as well as the earnings they receive. But, at the same time, they classify those workers as independent contractors rather than employees. That classification has far-reaching consequences. Labeling workers “independent contractors” allows companies to avoid the legal obligations that typically define employment relationships and are essential to guarantee workers’ rights, including minimum wage guarantees, workplace safety protections, compensation for injuries, and contributions to social security systems. While platform work spans many sectors, this piece focuses on taxi and delivery work, which account for more than half of all location-based digital labor platforms identified by the ILO. Human Rights Watch interviewed dozens of platform workers in the United Kingdom, the United States, Lebanon, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Kenya, Mexico, and across the Gulf about their experiences working for platforms. Their accounts, some of which are included below, illustrate why strong regulations that protect workers are increasingly urgent. Chapter 1: Managed by an Algorithm Companies assign tasks, set pay, and evaluate workers’ performance via algorithms, while tracking how quickly a worker accepts requests, how long tasks take, and how customers rate the service. The lack of ability to plan and budget, coupled with gamified and incentivized design, pressures workers to accept jobs quickly, meet tight deadlines, and maintain high ratings, with penalties for falling short. Workers who decline job offers, receive negative reviews, or fall foul of other thresholds set by the algorithms may find that opportunities dry up, often without explanation and with no clear way to appeal. Play video One gig worker likened the arrangement to fishing. “You go out as much as possible, take your chances, roll the dice, cast your net,” said Graeme, a bicycle courier in Scotland. “But you never really know what you're going to draw back in.... It's precarious. Some nights you might be thinking it's going to be really good and it's not.” Some platforms use elaborate reward systems with tiers, rating targets, and performance badges to coax workers into accepting more jobs and working longer hours. However, research suggests that over time, labor conditions degrade for workers. Elie’s Uber Pro Diamond status on their app, Beirut, Lebanon. © Private Elie (a pseudonym) has driven full time for Uber in Lebanon since 2016. He showed Human Rights Watch what it takes to maintain “Uber Pro Diamond” status, the platform’s highest tier in the Uber Pro reward scheme for drivers. Drivers must complete a high volume of trips, keep customer ratings above 4.9 out of 5 stars, and hold cancellations at or below four percent for a period of three months. In return, they get shorter unpaid wait times, priority access to certain rides, and dedicated support. Even with Uber Pro Diamond status, the rewards are uncertain. Elie said his earnings fluctuate sharply from week to week, even when he spends the same amount of time on the road. Unlike a traditional taxi driver who can respond to demand by choosing where and when to work, Elie cannot see or influence the algorithm that decides which rides he receives and at what price. Traditional taxi industries in many countries limit the number of licensed drivers, keeping earnings more predictable for those in the market. Platform companies face no such regulatory requirement, and, in many markets, driver numbers have grown sharply as earnings have fallen. Susan in Nairobi, Kenya, 2026. © 2026 Human Rights Watch Susan, who has driven for several platform companies in Kenya since 2016, described how the system pushes workers to accept trips even when they feel unsafe. “When you don’t accept or cancel trips, your ratings go down,” she said. “So you find yourself in places where you don’t feel safe, but you still accept the request so that you don’t lose your rating.” She said she had been suspended multiple times, leaving her without income and reinforcing the pressure to accept trips. She fears permanent deactivation. “It starts with 24 hours, then three days, then longer,” she said. “Eventually, you can be blocked completely.” Workers also described opaque and inconsistent pricing. Arjun (a pseudonym), a delivery worker in Edinburgh, Scotland, said the same order can be offered to different workers at different rates. “If I get an order for £3 and I cancel it, the rider standing next to me may get the same order for £3.50 or £4,” he said. “If [the platform] can afford to pay more, why not pay that in the first place?” Professor Veena Dubal, a labor and technology expert at the University of California, has termed this practice "algorithmic wage discrimination," describing how platforms use granular data to offer different workers different pay for the same work. Delivery workers in the Gulf described a similar lack of transparency and consistency around wage rates and work availability, with wages set and jobs allocated by opaque and ever-changing algorithms. One Nepali worker in the UAE said groups of workers would wait in the same place for orders, some receiving trips while others sat idle for hours, with no explanation for why. Others said low performance scores, missed targets, or delayed deliveries could reduce earnings or lead to their accounts being blocked. Under international labor standards, including the International Labour Organization’s Employment Relationship Recommendation, employment status is determined by the reality of the working relationship, not the label used in a contract. A worker is an employee when they perform work under the direction or control of another in exchange for pay. Play video Agnes, who has worked across multiple platforms in Nairobi, Kenya, for more than a decade, described the level of control companies exert over her work. “They tell you the type of car to use, the routes to follow,” she said. “If you don’t follow what the app says, you can be suspended.” She said workers are required to accept terms they often do not fully understand in order to access work. “You just tick that you’ve read and understood,” she said. “But you don’t have time to go through it. And once you accept, you’re bound by it.” These kinds of controls raise serious questions about whether platform workers are truly independent. Play video Jesús González, a platform worker in Mexico, described the same dynamics. “If they control all that,” he said, “how are they not our employer?” Platform companies determine pay rates workers cannot negotiate, allocate and evaluate work through algorithms workers cannot influence, and can suspend or remove workers unilaterally. By these measures, the realities workers describe are consistent with employment relationships rather than independent contracting. Some platform companies describe their workers as “partners.” Workers say that characterization does not reflect how the work is structured. “Partners don’t pay to work,” Jesús said. “And if they’re not my employer, why do they limit how many hours I can work?” Rather than referring to a formal cap on hours, Jesus was describing a common pattern: no matter how long he stays online, the algorithm decides how many jobs come his way. In India, the control that platform companies exert over their workers has attracted public attention. In January 2026, following nationwide protests by platform workers, the government moved to restrict 10-minute delivery guarantees that had been introduced by major platform companies and had put immense pressure on workers to complete every job within a ten-minute window. Ravi (a pseudonym) has worked for food delivery platform companies in Delhi for the past three years. "The company says, 'Deliver in ten minutes or your earnings will be cut, your incentives taken away, and you'll get fined,'" he said. Graeme in Scotland described the same absence of support from a different company. He recently received an order of hot coffee with no protective packaging, an item he could not safely carry on his bicycle. “It would have been great to phone Rider Support and say, ‘I can’t accept this order,’” he said. “But there is no response.” Under international human rights law, states should protect workers from arbitrary or unfair treatment in their working conditions, including decisions made through automated systems. Chapter 2: Long Hours, Low Pay Platform workers are typically paid per task or trip. Many earn low and unstable wages that fall below statutory minimums that protect other kinds of workers and far below a living wage, despite long working hours, sometimes late into the night or early in the morning. A large share of their working days goes unpaid. Workers told Human Rights Watch that waiting for orders can account for 30 to 50 percent of their working hours. Time spent traveling to pick up customers or returning from distant destinations is also uncompensated. Arjun, in Scotland, described the arithmetic of a working day. “If I work for three or four hours, I feel like I’m just working for two,” he said. “The rest goes in waiting for orders. You don’t get paid for the time you are online on the app or out on the streets.” Of the time they are paid, workers do not keep the full amount a customer pays. Companies deduct a commission, a “service fee” or “take rates” from each trip or delivery. Commission fees vary widely by platform and location. In Lebanon, Uber drivers Human Rights Watch spoke with said the company takes 25 percent of what the customer pays for each trip. With dynamic pricing models, service fees can even vary by trip. Research by Columbia Business School found that Uber retained about 42 percent of what customers in the US paid in 2024. A 2025 study by the National Employment Law Project found that, for some trips, Uber retained more than 60 percent of what the customer paid. Workers described frustration that large shares of their pay go to the platform company. Some also said that additional fees and fines are deducted without explanation. One worker in Pakistan said, "Whatever income you earn, the fines take it away. And on top of that we're still giving them a commission." [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.hrw.org/feature/2026/05/13/algorithms-of-exploitation/rights-abuses-in-the-gig-economy-and-the-global-fight Published and (C) by Common Dreams Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/