The Social Factors of the Income Gap of Digital Labour under the Transformation of Platform Capitalism

Abstract

With the rapid development of digital technology, people are creating digital products, which has led to a digital transformation of the form of labor. The resulting platform capitalism is an economic form that will dominate society in the future, and the amount of digital labor it involves is only increasing. Based on existing literature and data, this paper discusses three separate issues affecting the income gap of digital labor by targeting audiences, social media, and advertisers. It is found that the pay of the audience as digital labor is limited by the degree of exploitation by advertisers and the extent of their use of social media. First, platform capitalism sustains the commodification of user behavior, resulting in a cashable act of digital labor. Second, big data exposes audiences to dilemmas of justice, and the exploitation of platform capitalism impacts the fairness of digital labor. Third, mediatization also impacts the income gap in digital labor, with less visible mediums earning less than more visible ones