Surveillance and the ecology of frictions in platform urbanism: the case of delivery workers in Santiago de Chile

Abstract

Digital platforms have quickly become popular thanks to the algorithms that have made it possible to work from a smartphone. The potential benefits of job flexibility and easy complementary income for “delivery partners” have been highlighted. However, work through tasks precariously paid, the impossibility of organizing in a labor union and the constant monitoring of labor performance has put platforms to the test. Despite these working conditions, delivery staff are not passively under surveillance, but rather the platforms are a space of frictions. In this article, we seek to abandon the idea of delivery platforms as objectified entities that are the natural/universal result of technological progress in the city by adressing the frictions and local practices of reproduction of the platform. Through a 6-month fieldwork consisting of interviews with Uber Eats delivery workers in Santiago de Chile, this article seeks to describe and delve into practices of subversion that delivery staff use to resist excessive surveillance at work, where indicators such as rating are essential to avoid being “deactivated”. Our findings indicate that Uber Eats’ platform deploys various strategies that we will call friendly surveillance, which operates as veiled nudges in which the system seeks to keep delivery staff engaged through incentives and promotions. At the same time, the platform collects data and defines what it means to be an efficient delivery partner.