Author: Mohammad Amir Anwar

Data workers in Africa often have a hard time. They face job insecurities – including temporary contracts, low pay, arbitrary dismissal and worker surveillance – and alarming physical and psychological health risks. The consequences of their work can include exhaustion, burnout, mental health strain, chronic stress, vertigo and weakening of eyesight. Data work includes text prediction, image and video annotation, speech to text validation and content moderation. The world of data work is built on labour arbitrage – exploiting the fact that workers earn less and have less protection in some countries than in others. Large technology firms often outsource…