Algorithms of Facial Recognition Among Food Couriers in Spain: Surveillance and Complicity with the Practices of Subleasing and Shared Use of Personal Accounts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/dra.2023.001cKeywords:
Algorithms, delivery, biometric identification, migration, facial recognition systems, irregular employmentAbstract
Research about algorithmic management in the food home delivery sector has mainly focused on the assignment of orders, and how such automated decisions affects labor conditions. However, food delivery companies have also implemented algorithmic calculations with other goals, mainly to deal with the so-called «black market of delivery accounts». Facial recognition systems have been put in place in order to target «identity fraud», searching for those riders working under applications not of their own. This paper, based on a multi-situated ethnography in different Spanish cities, deals with the growing phenomenon of subleasing and sharing personal accounts, a generalized practice among migrant riders with diverse administrative situations. Concretely, we engage the context of emergence, inner workings, and network effects of the facial recognition systems implemented by two key companies, Glovo and Uber Eats. This preliminary analysis reflects upon the paradoxical development of the efficient algorithmic system of biometric identification within the food delivery sector in Spain.
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Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Grant numbers PID2020-115170RB-I00
