Platform workers around the world face long hours, unpredictable and declining wages, and serious safety risks as platform companies skirt labor protections, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on Wednesday report. HRW urges governments to adopt binding standards in an International Labor Organization (ILO) treaty on platform work, negotiations of which are scheduled for June 2026.
The Multimedia reportentitled “Algorithms of Exploitation: Rights Abuses in the Gig Economy and the Global Fight for Change” documents the experiences of platform workers in nine countries: India, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mexico, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Kingdom (UK). HRW found that in all countries surveyed, workers face low and unstable earnings, unsafe working conditions and little or no protection when they are injured or unable to work.
“Platform companies have built a business model that bypasses labor protections and shifts risks and costs onto 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 and not by exploitation.”
Workers described violence, declining wages and a lack of support from platform companies. Graeme Franes, a courier in Scotland who delivered groceries by bike, said he broke his arm in an attack and was unable to work for six months. “I had to rely on friends and family,” Franes said. Agnes Mwongera, a driver in Nairobi, said she was attacked by a passenger and received no response when she reported the attack to her company.
The ILO Estimates This platform work has almost doubled between 2016 and 2021 World Bank estimates that up to 435 million people worldwide earn their income via work platforms. Platform companies routinely classify workers as independent contractors, which excludes them from minimum wage, social security and workplace safety requirements in many countries while allowing companies to control workers through algorithmic systems that determine pay and assign tasks.
There was initially no statement from large platform companies. The rights group found previously A May 2025 report said many U.S. platform workers earn below minimum wage after expenses. Human rights groups have been pushing for binding standards since the ILO committed to developing global norms for platform work at its June 2025 conference.
The ILO treaty negotiations are planned for June 2026. If adopted, the resulting convention would be among the first binding international standards specifically regulating platform work.
