The mediation of work by digital platforms and its impacts on the autonomy of workers

Abstract

The text analyzes the multiple mediations of work by digital platforms, questioning the impacts of these mediation dynamics on the autonomy of workers in these spaces. The research focused on ten digital platforms for freelance work: Workana, Freelaweb.com.br, 99 Freelas, Get Ninjas, Freelas, Comunica Freelancer, Wedologos, Vintepila, Vinteconto and Rockcontent Talent Network. The multiple mediations of work by digital platforms are examined, which occur in relation to capital in general, in the employment of work to enable social activities and in the specific agency of hiring the workforce. The work analyses the strategies of control of workers by the platforms and the ways in which their autonomy is limited. These restrictions are imposed in various ways. In the case of platforms, they include platform rules on access to jobs, remuneration mechanisms and procedures for the selection, execution and evaluation of tasks performed. Some of them provide for pre-established formats and contents. Another dimension of control and limitation of autonomies occurs by the contractors, who establish contents, parameters, and deadlines, as well as control the intellectual production process. The analysis points to how the mediation of the platforms makes it possible to deepen the subsumption of intellectual labour and reduce the autonomy of the worker, even if under a discourse of "independence" in the execution of tasks.