Connecting at the edge: Cycles of commodification and labour control within food delivery platform work in Belgium

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper we examine how commodification and labour control unfold within a digital labour platform, focusing on the connections between the platform, its users and workers. Based on a qualitative study covering couriers, clients, restaurants and the management of a food delivery platform in Belgium, we shed light on the complexity of commodification, explaining how the platform simultaneously empowers and disempowers all participants. We illustrate how the platform fosters commodification by granting access to transactions and fuelling competition, while at the same time increasing dependency through withholding information from users and workers. In so doing, we contribute to understanding how platforms exert control and create, extract and capture value by connecting users and workers with each other through the use of digital technology.