One of his key arguments was that today’s system forces a choice for every worker and every company: you’re either an employee with more benefits but less flexibility, or an independent contractor with more flexibility but almost no safety net. Uber’s new proposal aims to eliminate this forced choice — yet many of our critics say it doesn’t... See more

-Labor laws to protect platform worker rights

Platform workers’ liminal status makes them much more vulnerable to exploitation. In the United States, most gig workers and creators are classified as “independent contractors,” a categorization the IRS defines as “people who offer their services to the general public” in an independent trade, business, or profession. In practical terms, this... See more

For example, the exploitation that tech companies euphemistically call "gig work" relies on minimum wage stagnation and the collapse of social mobility. Grubhub stealing drivers' tips, or Uber and Lyft spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the California Prop. 22 fight to ensure that they could continue denying benefits to their drivers both... See more

Despite real differences in their jobs, both gig workers and content creators are reckoning with the fact that their livelihoods depend on the actions and algorithms of platforms that they have little to no ability to sway.