Antitrust, workers’ rights and algorithms

Abstract

The age of algorithms has changed both the way in which we demand products and the way in which we supply labour. In respect of the labour supply process, the complexity of adequately compensating human effort so that their survival is ensured is a problem that invites all manner of social, political and legal argumentation. Three recent books attempt to untangle this problem by visiting the intersection of antitrust, workers’ rights and algorithms. To specify, Acevedo (2020) takes on the issue of the rights of workers who work for platform companies; Posner (2021) looks at the inadequacies of antitrust laws in protecting workers’ rights, both in traditional and platform organisations; and Portuese (2022) highlights the technological hurdles of regulating platform companies via conventional antitrust legal precepts.