Illusory Freedom and Fragile Social Protection: Digital Discourse of Indonesian Ride-Hailing Drivers
Keywords:
gig workers ride-hailing drivers netnography social protection platform laborAbstract
The study aims to examine how ride-hailing drivers articulate issues of income instability, unfair deductions, and employment classification in digital public spaces, and how these narratives reflect broader power relations in the gig economy. This study employs a qualitative netnography approach, supported by grounded-theory–informed analysis. Data were collected from 200 publicly accessible comments on high-engagement YouTube videos discussing ride-hailing drivers’ demands for fair compensation. The data were coded inductively to identify recurring discursive patterns, which were then interpreted using Foucault’s theory of neoliberal power and governmentality. No interaction was made with platform users, and identifiable elements were removed to ensure ethical compliance. Findings reveal four dominant discourses: (1) financial precarity resulting from operational cost burden and volatile income; (2) perceptions of unfair and opaque platform deductions; (3) employment status ambiguity caused by the use of “mitra” (partner) terminology despite platform control resembling employer–employee relations; and (4) strong expectations for state intervention due to drivers’ limited bargaining power. These interconnected themes demonstrate that precarity is not incidental but engineered through algorithmic management and risk externalization. The study introduces two conceptual contributions to gig work literature: administrative exclusion, where employment ambiguity becomes a mechanism to deny access to social protection, and collective compensation, where driver communities compensate for institutional absence. The findings highlight the need for adaptive social protection policies and clear regulatory frameworks for gig workers.
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