2023/07/01 by Carlo Vercellone, Antonio Di Stasio · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · Health Professions · #Digital Economy and Work Transformation #Sharing Economy and Platforms #Employment and Welfare Studies
paper · doi:10.1521/siso.2023.87.3.334
openalex publication_date 2023/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/24
The notion of Free Digital Labor has emerged at the center of scientific debate with the advent of platform capitalism. This notion denotes the apparently free activity that users perform on digital platforms, producing, often unknowingly, data without any monetary remuneration. It is therefore particularly useful in signaling the progressive loss of a clear distinction between working time and leisure time. The paradigmatic example of the valorization of these activities is provided by Google and Facebook. Their accumulation system is based on a multi-sided market logic, in which the extraction of user data is combined with online advertising. Recent debate has raised several objections to the notion of Free Digital Labor. Our aim is to clarify the terms of the debate and to revive the relevance of the notion of Free Digital Labor through a historical and theoretical analysis of the transformations of the relationship between capital and labor.