While the promise of flexibility and autonomy has driven the expansion of digital platforms in the gig economy, this apparent modernization of labour hides a model that leads to increasing precariousness and exploitation. Instead of expanding opportunities, apps have become intermediaries in a system in which workers have no formal employment, no minimum guarantees, and are subjected to arbitrary rules.
Rute Souza is a journalist.
Katarine Flor is communications coordinator at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s São Paulo Office.
What appears technological actually conceals a strict control system that defines who receives work, how much they earn, and who will be punished. Using closed-ended algorithms with no transparency or objective rules, corporations regulate each step of the process, establishing from the speed of work to automatic deactivation with no clear justification. What is sold as autonomy and innovation is actually submission and instability.
Believing in technological neutrality is no longer possible, as economic and political power is concentrated in the hands of a few corporations. A growing movement is responding to that and proposing an alternative model: Digital Solidarity Economy. Drawing inspiration from free software and digital sovereignty, this approach aims to create open, community-based technologies to disrupt Big Tech’s logic of exploitation.
Grounded in self-management and cooperation, Digital Solidarity Economy establishes models of collective ownership, in which the workers control the platforms and define their own working conditions. Instead of shady algorithms and automated decisions, it proposes transparency, democratic governance, and appreciation of labour before profit.
Professor Rafael Grohmann, of the University of Toronto argues that the response to “uberization” must go beyond the creation of cooperative start-ups. “The problem is not only the apps or software, but the ownership of infrastructure and data”, he says, adding that it is crucial that workers have control over the technology to prevent the replication of the subordination model that exists in commercial platforms.
Uberization Aggravates Inequalities
When Uber first arrived in Brazil in 2014, it changed labour relations in the country. The gig economy model, which at first was restricted to passenger riding services, quickly expanded to other industries, including delivery services, hospitality, domestic services, and others.
The uberization phenomenon led to increasing deterioration of working conditions in a market already marked by informality. With no formal employment, workers are treated as service providers with no labour rights or social protections. The responsibilities of the job and the risks associated with it fall solely on the worker, while companies exempt themselves from any obligations.
More than simply adapting platform cooperativism, Digital Solidarity Economy expands it, including collective data and digital infrastructure ownership.
“We have seen a quick shift in the reality of labour in a short amount of time. Over the past ten years, the market, especially in big cities, has rapidly changed, with effects that must be analysed”, argues Daniel Santini, a project coordinator at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
Those who are most impacted are especially the most vulnerable workers, especially Black youth in big cities. Data shows how “uberization” reinforces structural inequalities. According to Brazil’s National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), 77 percent of app workers are under the age of 40 — 48.4 percent are 25–39 years old. In terms of race, 59 percent of them identify as Black or Pardo, which shows that the model directly affects historically marginalized groups.
Algorithms Hinder Mobilization
Precariousness increases with the lack of social protection, which leads to financial instability and complete dependence on the platforms among workers. These workers face not only poor working conditions, but also another obstacle, less apparent yet essential to the maintenance of this system: algorithmic control.
Renan Kalil, a public prosecutor for Brazil’s Labour Public Prosecution Service with a PhD in Law from the University of São Paulo (USP), argues that algorithms are used not only to organize and distribute demands, but also to limit collective mobilization. “The system creates a false sense of autonomy, isolating workers in a logic of competition that prevents them from recognizing each other as part of the same sector”, Kalil explains. This way, workers are encouraged to compete with each other, making any attempts at collective organizing more difficult.
Not only that, some companies adopt active strategies to weaken mobilization, hindering workers from demanding better conditions. “Companies like iFood have funded disinformation campaigns, creating fake profiles of delivery workers on social media to weaken mobilization and impose their narrative”, Kalil denounces.
This invisible control allows platforms to maintain their highly lucrative model without having to address labour demands. Far from being neutral mediators, algorithms work as a tool of domination, regulating access to work and undermining any form of resistance.
The reaction to this exploitative scenario, nevertheless, came from the streets.
The Boom of Breque dos Apps
The lack of social protections and labour rights has become even more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. While delivery workers and drivers were regarded as essential workers to allow the population to stay at home and contain the spread of the virus, they remained with no access to basic rights, exposing how fragile this labour model is.
Paulo “Galo” Lima, a member of the group Anti-Fascist Delivery Workers (Entregadores Antifascistas), says the narrative that app workers are entrepreneurs is only meant to hide the awful conditions to which they are subjected. “Some workers are homeless, they work while starving, and carry weight that is incompatible with human effort”, Galo denounces in an interview featured in the book Mobilidade Antirracista, co-published by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s São Paulo Office and Autonomia Literária.
Digital Solidarity Economy is not only an academic concept, but a concrete movement that brings together researchers, workers, and organizations to build an alternative labour and technological model.
Frustration grew as the risks of the pandemic exposed the lack of labour guarantees for them. In July 2020, workers in this sector organized their first major nationwide strike, known as Breque dos Apps. The movement demanded better pay, protection equipment, and the end of arbitrary deactivations. The mobilization organized by delivery workers and drivers in several cities across Brazil rekindled the conversation about working conditions in the gig economy and showed workers’ organizing capacity even in face of the barriers imposed through algorithmic control.
The workers’ protest showed that the platforms’ model does not mean freedom, but actually extreme reliance on systems that operate with no accountability or negotiation. While on the one hand “uberization” has really become a problem, Digital Solidarity Economy, which stems from Platform Cooperativism, now appears as a potential alternative.
From Platform Cooperativism to the Digital Solidarity Economy
The conversation about alternatives to “uberization” gained traction at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in 2016, with the publication of Trebor Scholz’s book Platform Cooperativism in Portuguese by the foundation in partnership with the publishing houses Elefante and Autonomia Literária. “Scholz’s book introduces, in a very clear, structured way, the premises to conceive a new labour model, with concrete examples”, Daniel Santini says.
After the book was published, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation expanded the conversation with interested researchers and organizations, establishing a strong connection with the DigiLabour Research Lab at the University of Toronto, spearheaded by Rafael Grohmann. From these joint efforts emerged the concept of Digital Solidarity Economy, which incorporated consolidated Brazilian experiences, like Free Culture, Free Software, and Solidarity Economy policies.
“We realized that the term ‘platform cooperativism’ does not reflect Brazil’s highly complex context. It made more sense to speak in terms of Digital Solidarity Economy or even Solidarity Economy 2.0, which is more connected to our tradition”, Santini explains. From this movement, several organizations started to engage with the government, leading to closer conversations with Brazil’s National Department of Popular and Solidarity Economy, which reports to the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Digital Solidarity Economy, therefore, is not only an academic concept, but a concrete movement that brings together researchers, workers, and organizations to build an alternative labour and technological model.
Digital Solidarity Economy: A Concrete Proposal
In face of the predatory logic of big platforms, Digital Solidarity Economy emerged as an alternative model based on cooperation, self-management, and democratic governance. In this approach, workers own and manage the platforms they use, ensuring them more autonomy and fair labour conditions.
More than simply adapting platform cooperativism as proposed by the US researcher Trebor Scholz, Digital Solidarity Economy expands it, including collective data and digital infrastructure ownership. This means that these platforms are not only owned by the workers, but they also operate with transparency and democratic control, eliminating the barriers imposed by shady algorithms and automated decision-making.
Technology does not have to be a tool of exploitation and control — it can be used to strengthen workers’ autonomy and ensure more just labour relations.
Emanuele Rubim, a lawyer, researcher, and co-author of the book Economia Solidária Digital, says this proposal represents an essential step towards a more inclusive and sustainable economic development. The book was published in 2024 by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in partnership with DigiLabour and Brazil’s Ministry of Labour and Employment. Rubim says that, unlike the logic of big platforms, Digital Solidarity Economy considers aspects including territory, environment, and social and technological relations.
By promoting open, community-based technologies, Digital Solidarity Economy proposes a model that shifts the traditional dynamics of proprietary platforms, making sure that technology is used to serve workers and communities, rather than for big corporations to profit.
Digital Solidarity Economy Experiences in Brazil and the World
Projects in several countries show that alternatives to big platforms are being built, disrupting Big Tech logic and promoting more just models in which workers have an active voice in managing the technology they use.
Brazil: Cooperatives and Technology for Autonomy
- Señoritas Courier: A cooperative of women and trans people in São Paulo operating in the bike delivery services industry. They offer a more just labour model and develop their own service organization and management technology, so as to not depend on private platforms.
- MTST Technology Centre: A group connected to the Homeless Workers’ Movement (MTST) responsible for creating digital platforms dedicated to labour self-management. Its projects include Contrate Quem Luta (“Hire Those Who Struggle”), a chatbot that connects construction workers and clients with no intermediaries.
- Liga Coop: A federation that brings together drivers’ cooperatives as an alternative to Uber and 99. It develops its own app, ensuring that workers have greater control over their earnings and preventing the exploitation imposed by big ride-sharing platforms.
Europe and North America: Cooperative and Free Technology Networks
- CoopCycle: A federation of delivery workers’ cooperatives based across different European cities. The platform uses free software, which allows different groups to operate delivery services with no private intermediaries.
- Driver’s Seat: A drivers’ cooperative that collects and sells their own data to public agencies, thus reducing their reliance on private platforms in transportation policy making.
- Means TV: A cooperative, self-managed streaming platform that offers progressive content as an alternative to Netflix and other commercial companies.
These initiatives show that, while they face challenges, alternatives to big platforms are already a reality in several countries. Digital Solidarity Economy not only offers better working conditions — it also points to a more inclusive, democratic technology model.
Challenges to a Digital Solidarity Economy
Despite its transformative potential, Digital Solidarity Economy faces economic, organizational, technological, and legal obstacles that make it hard to consolidate and expand it.
- Economic challenges: A major obstacle for Digital Solidarity Economy initiatives is the lack of resources to invest in technology, infrastructure, and capacity building. Unlike big platforms, which have venture capital and funds from investors, these initiatives need to pursue sustainable financial alternatives to remain competitive.
Moreover, unfair competition imposed by Big Tech aggravates this scenario. Corporations including Uber and iFood resort to practices like dumping, offering services at artificially low prices to eliminate competitors. With no dedicated public policies, for example to offer lines of credit, funding for research, and government support, many initiatives struggle to consolidate and grow. - Organizational challenges: Self-management and democratic governance are key pillars for Digital Solidarity Economy, but its implementation requires profound cultural changes. The traditional labour model based on rigid hierarchies and individualistic relations makes the transition to collective, decentralized structures harder.
Not only that, shared management requires continuous education, workers’ active participation, and efficient decision-making processes. With no appropriate capacity building and time to become mature, organizational structures may become inefficient and caught in red tape, compromising the sustainability of initiatives. - Technological Challenges: Reliance on proprietary technologies developed by big corporations limits the digital autonomy of cooperatives and collectives. Without having their own infrastructure, many initiatives end up using commercial platforms, replicating the same logics of control and increasing precariousness.
Another challenge is the lack of trained professionals to develop digital solutions aligned with the principles of Solidarity Economy. Empowering this industry requires investments in technological training to offer workers, in addition to building open and shared digital infrastructures. - Legal challenges: The lack of a specific regulatory framework for Digital Solidarity Economy in Brazil makes it hard and highly bureaucratic for initiatives to become formal and raise funds. Self-managed platforms and cooperatives today are not included in an appropriate legal framework, which may lead to tax and labour deadlocks.
Moreover, there is still a battle being waged to regulate digital labour and, without specific legislation, cooperatives face the risk of being treated as traditional platforms, which could disregard the specific characteristics of this alternative model.
The Path towards Just Digital Labour
“Uberization” has consolidated a precarious labour model, in which risks are transferred to workers while platforms maximize their profits. However, Digital Solidarity Economy emerges as an alternative pathway grounded in self-management, cooperation, and democratic governance.
Experiences in Brazil and around the world show that it is possible to build collective platforms, but their expansion still faces economic, technological, and regulatory challenges. For these initiatives to thrive, implementing public policies, offering proper funding, and establishing a legal framework that acknowledges their specific characteristics is fundamental.
Technology does not have to be a tool of exploitation and control — it can be used to strengthen workers’ autonomy and ensure more just labour relations. The challenge, therefore, is to consolidate models that make technology work for the collective, promoting digital sovereignty and dignity of labour.
Translated by Aline Scátola.