“Gig” workers around the world experience long hours, unpredictable and declining pay, and serious safety risks as platform companies sidestep labor protections, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday in a report. HRW urges governments to adopt binding standards in an International Labour Organization (ILO) treaty on platform work, negotiations for which are scheduled for June 2026.
The multimedia report, titled “Algorithms of Exploitation: Rights Abuses in the Gig Economy and the Global Fight for Change,” documents the experiences of platform workers across nine countries: India, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mexico, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Kingdom (UK). HRW found that workers across all countries studied face low and unstable earnings, unsafe working conditions, and little or no protection when injured or unable to work.
“Platform companies have built a business model that sidesteps labor protections and shifts risks and costs onto the workers,” said Lena Simet, senior economic justice advisor at HRW.
Simet said that governments “should ensure that platform work is governed by fair pay, safety, and social security, not exploitation.”
Workers described violence, declining pay, and a lack of support from platform companies. Graeme Franes, a courier in Scotland who delivered food by bicycle, said an attack left him with a broken arm and unable to work for six months. “I had to rely on friends and family,” Franes said. Agnes Mwongera, a driver in Nairobi, said she had been assaulted by a passenger and received no response when she reported the attack to her company.
The ILO estimates that platform work nearly doubled between 2016 and 2021. The World Bank estimates that up to 435 million people worldwide earn income through labor platforms. Platform companies routinely classify workers as independent contractors, which in many countries excludes them from minimum wage, social security, and occupational safety requirements while allowing companies to control workers through algorithmic systems that determine pay and assign tasks.
No statement from major platform companies was immediately available. The rights group previously found in a May 2025 report that many US platform workers earn below minimum wage after expenses. Rights groups have pressed for binding standards since the ILO committed to developing global norms on platform work at its June 2025 conference.
The ILO treaty negotiations are set for June 2026. If adopted, the resulting convention would be among the first binding international standards specifically governing platform work.
