‘No South Asian Riders, Please’: The Politics of Visibilisation in Platformed Food Delivery Work during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Hong Kong

Abstract

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the need for online food delivery services (such as Deliveroo and Foodpanda), creating new job opportunities for South Asian youths. However, outbreaks of infected cases in districts populated by South Asians have spurred ‘racist’ remarks by customers, perhaps triggered by a flurry of negative mainstream news reports and social media outbursts targeted at South Asians. These behaviours reveal the added precariousness of ethnic minority employment. This paper examines the inter-sectional politics of race and class involved in platformed work, in the case of food delivery services. It discusses how the algorithmically controlled platformed economy may have an impact on racial minority workers. Employing the conceptual framing of ‘invisibility’, and notions around ‘platformed/ gig labour’, it argues that neo-liberalised infrastructural capitalism aggravates algorithmic surveillance of racial minority workers. It suggests the possible resilience of racial minority workers in the globally popular business model.

A Thematic Review on Using Food Delivery Services during the Pandemic: Insights for the Post-COVID-19 Era

“…Macías-Rendón et al [ 48 ] observed that consumers provide positive comments to delivery workers during the pandemic due to empathy (see Theme 7). Nevertheless, the literature showed that consumers may complain about delivery workers for a variety of reasons [ 81 , 82 ].…”

“…Consumer social responsibility is another aspect of social factors, which has been found to influence consumer behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly in the form of support or empathy for restaurants and delivery personnel affected by the crisis. Consumers’ complaints or other behaviors may make delivery workers’ livelihoods precarious [ 81 , 82 ]. However, during the pandemic, some consumers may increase their use of food delivery services or tip delivery workers due to social responsibility or empathy.…”

Understanding justice in the platform economy: A qualitative case study of platform-based food delivery work

“…We contend that further investigations should delve into the interactions and relationships among platform workers, customers, and food providers within the context of platform-based food delivery. Considering the prevalence of couriers’ compromised perceptions of interpersonal justice, more studies are urgently needed (Leung, 2022).…”

Partners or workers? Mexican app deliverers on YouTube and TikTok

“…First, app deliverers establish particular labor relationships governed by algorithms and resisted by individual strategies of agency and solidarity mediated by technology (Yu et al, 2022). The research highlights the production and reproduction of job insecurity, including factors such as invisibilization and racialization, especially in the Global South (Leung, 2022). Also of particular interest are delivery workers' narratives about their jobs, which vary in perspective.…”