‘UN–INVOLUTION SOLIDARITIES’ AS SOCIAL–TECHNOLOGICAL RESISTANCES OF MIGRANT/MINORITY GIG WORKERS IN HONG KONG

In Hong Kong, the arrival of Keeta (subsidiary of Meituan) in Hong Kong in 2023 further aggravated the structured inequalities facing migrant gig workers. Disgruntled minority/ migrant gig workers, then have to resort to collective tactics, to resist algorithmic and ‘workplace’ aggression, in the face of encroaching state surveillance and mercenary exploitation. This paper consolidates several years of research into the ‘structured’ struggles of south Asian migrant / minority platform workers in Hong Kong, and their tactical agencies and solidarities, in the post–colonial context of Hong Kong. Employing quantitative surveys and qualitative methods, the paper argues that migrant/ racial minority gig workers face could stem from deeply entrenched racialisation/ racism in former colonies, which are contemporised and aggravated in the increasingly ‘involutionist’ platforms. It also argues that these marginalised workers are capable of employing WhatsApp to collectively resist platformed aggression. Employing the notion of ‘un–involution solidarities’, the paper hopes to articulate the nuanced agencies, tactics and solidarities of migrant/ minority workers in engaging in collective forms of resistances, which reflect altogether the layers of structured precariousness incurred by platform capitalism, in an increasingly authoritarian polity.