Work mediated by digital platforms and asymmetries in communication relationships
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0259.2022.e82596Abstract
The aim of this article is to discuss the communication relationships established in the context of food delivery
work mediated by digital platforms, specifically considering the case of the iFood company in Brazil. It is a proposal that
seeks to reflect how the before-mentioned company chooses, in the design and interface of its app, for a limited interaction
with the workers who carry out the delivery work. It can be said that, in this sense, there is an information asymmetry in the
relationships between the digital platform company and the so-called “delivery riders”, since the company has a monopoly
of information in the work process managed and algorithmically controlled by itself. The discussion presented in this article
is based on the results of an empirical research carried out with workers who used the iFood company’s delivery app in the
southern Brazil, in 2020, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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