Collaborative Disruption: Creative Dissidents on China’s Ridesharing Platforms

• In Event: Disrupting Algorithms: Innovating Work and Life in the Digital Economy - III

Abstract

Between 2014 and 2016, the ridesharing giants Uber and Didi waged a protracted subsidy war in China, with each firm dolling out billions of dollars of cash incentives to customers and drivers. This extreme price competition inadvertently gave rise to a massive shadow economy. Virtually overnight, illicit communities of drivers, hackers, fake-account peddlers, and other informal actors formed to profit from this rapid influx of capital. These communities identified technological loopholes in ridesharing platforms and used digital software in conjunction with analog strategies to fake trips, thus reaping subsidies. At the zenith of these activities, it was estimated that 30-40% of Uber’s total business in China consisted of faked trips.

Drawing upon ethnographic data collected during 20-months of fieldwork in China, this article explores the collective strategies hacker-drivers used to resist algorithmic governance on ridesharing platforms. It reveals how, in the act of subverting platforms, hacker-drivers paradoxically contributed to the industry’s rise. The techno-communities that drivers formed to coordinate illicit activities were also used to share tacit knowledge, improve driving skills, and increase the welfare of drivers. Even the trips they faked were counted alongside actual orders and used by ridesharing companies to attract further venture capital investment. This dualistic relationship between creative dissidents and ridesharing platforms illustrates how “resistance” is being re-imagined and practiced in an age of expanding algorithmic governance.

Author

• Shuang Frost, Harvard University