Rethinking platform labor through a co-operative lens: the Fairbnb case

Over the last decade, we have gradually become aware of the implications generated by the spread of digital platforms (e.g. Gillespie 2010, 2018; van Dijck et al. 2018; Zuboff 2019). In particular, a large body of literature has been devoted to the analysis of the relationship between platforms, labor and social reproduction, helping to highlight the characteristics of the current market model, known as platform capitalism (Srnicek 2016). It has been defined as a “service economy on demand” (Scholz 2016) that has determined the dawn of the cybertariat (Huws et al. 2014), a hyper-flexible, over controlled and precarious workforce, exploited and lacking contractual protections (Formenti 2016; Giovannelli 2016; Armano et al. 2017). Such a critical approach has contributed to questioning the features of traditional platforms, stimulating the design of possible alternatives to their accumulative model. This led to the identification of a different socio-economic architecture within the current digital ecology: a democratically governed system referred to as platform cooperativism (Scholz and Schneider 2017), which takes shape from the critique of the extractivist mechanisms of the corporate sharing economy. Among the many experiences of platform cooperativism existing on a global scale, this contribution focuses on the analysis of an Italian project – Fairbnb – which proposes a more equitable alternative to traditional home sharing platforms (consider firstly the industry leader Airbnb). Based on the principles of collective ownership, democratic governance, local sustainability, transparency and accountability, it promotes a non-extractive architecture, offering sustainable tourism experiences (Foramitti et al. 2020; Petruzzi et al. 2021). Therefore, the purpose of this contribution is to understand whether and how Fairbnb can represent an alternative to the dominant model of the home-sharing market. Since the rationale behind this platform has been imagined and implemented for the benefit of - and together with - workers, the questions are: what tools have been put in place to curb the power of corporate platforms through cooperative and mutual principles? And above all: is the company’s vision currently living up to expectations? In this regard, the contribution involves in-depth interviews to be administered to Fairbnb 'hosts'. The aim of the interviews is to provide an accurate description of the platform environment, with its affordances and constraints as perceived by the members/workers. In particular, an attempt will be made to understand how the socio-technical infrastructure has been designed and thus how it is currently used by the hosts, what participatory practices are promoted and mediated by the platform, what political economy principles are associated with it, and to what extent the workers participated in the decision-making process for its implementation. What is expected to be found is the presence of a form of cooperative self-organization practiced by members and co-founders of Fairbnb as an alternative to the operating modes of the big tech industry. Indeed, since the project is based on a framework of organization oriented towards solidarity, shared ownership and democratic governance, it is plausible to believe that it provides the means to ensure respect for the rights and needs of its workers.