Resisting algorithmic control: Understanding the rise and variety of platform worker mobilisations

Algorithms are seen as effective for managing workers. Literature focuses mainly on the function- ing and impact of algorithmic control on workers' experiences and conditions. The ways in which platform workers have organised collectively to regain control have received far less scholarly attention. This paper addresses this gap by making sense of the mobilisation dynamics of two platform- work categories: crowdwork (Amazon Mechanical Turk) and work on-demand (food-delivery couriers). These are salient mobilisation cases, as these workers have resisted algorithmic control by adopt- ing specific organising modes, action repertoires and collective solidarities. By analysing a combina- tion of extant literature and policy reports concern- ing each category of mobilisation forms at a global level over 5 years, the study elucidates why and how these workers were able to act without the involve- ment of traditional trade unions by showing that specific supportive communities and political activ- ism traditions were crucial in the rise and variety of mobilisation.