AbstractThe increase in the number of platform workers has led to active discussions on the various difficulties they face. Existing studies on their work‐related accidents have focused on physical, traffic‐related accidents in offline places. However, platform workers are more likely to suffer from psychological stress or illnesses while performing immaterial and cognitive labour in the virtual space. Through in‐depth interviews with 30 platform workers in South Korea, this study investigated platform workers’ mental distress and identified five common psychological problems: (a) stress from real‐time assessment in public space; (b) exhaustion from working without work‐life boundaries; (c) infringement of privacy through exposure of private life; (d) verbal abuse in non‐face‐to‐face relations; and (e) isolation from working alone. In doing so, this study seeks to define the mental difficulties of platform workers as digital industrial accidents and asserts the need to establish a new social security system for the digital economy.