Platform work fuses data relations with labor relations at unprecedented scale

Evidence

New forms of labor are also emerging under data colonialism in the “sharing economy.” Here data relations are fused with labor relations, although the existence of labor relations is controversially denied by platforms such as Uber. These new hybrid data/labor relations encompass a huge variety of more or less formalized work, including data processing. Labor is captured in a seemingly “scale-less” business model that detaches workers from institutional supports but richly rewards platform management. Rhetoric cannot disguise the potential for exploiting low-level work skills at a distance and therefore at a scale and speed without historical precedent (for example, the repetitive coding and data inputting necessary for the training of artificial intelligence in so-called Machine Learning). — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 87

Categorization

• XREF: The hybrid data/labor claim cross-cuts the attention/surveillance school’s treatment of platform labor (e.g., gig economy critiques). — connects to: Platforms create an essentially new servitude for users distinct from workplace exploitation — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 320; Data relations extend capital extraction beyond labor into all social life — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 85; Data relations are becoming as naturalized as labor relations — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 132 (+4 more)
• DEFINE: Clarifies what ‘sharing economy’ conceals: labor relations denied by platforms yet fused with data extraction.

Broader Connections

• Sharing-economy platforms fuse data extraction with labor at unprecedented scale #corroborates (0.95)
• Platforms are the principal infrastructure through which capitalist data appropriation is normalized #expands (0.88) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 131
• Data relations are becoming as naturalized as labor relations #expands (0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 132
• Platforms extract free labor from users in exchange for recognition and perks #qualifies (0.70)