Bearing the Unbearable: Double Controls and Disguised Precarity on China-Based Platforms

This article examines controls over platform laborers by platforms and states as well as the precarity of platform laborers. Adopting a multi-level approach, we put the spotlight on how states, platforms and laborers interact with each other when states and platforms impose their controls over overseas laborers. Drawing on 47 in-depth interviews, surveys and online data collected during 2018–2023 on ABCKID (pseudonym), a large China-based platform employing North American laborers, we unpack how state control directly affected the lives of laborers and indirectly impacted platform work through strengthening platform control over laborers. Our findings show that the state is not necessarily an ally with platform laborers but could be a major source of control over these laborers. We also document how the platform took advantage of laborers’ dependency on the platform and collaborated with them to get around state controls. Furthermore, we introduce the concept of disguised precarity and illustrate how laborers’ precarity became more disguised as double controls unfolded. We argue that double controls by platforms and the states can exacerbate platform laborers’ precarity even though their precarity may seem to be tolerable.