ICESMED 2023 “Platformization of Labor in TIKTOK Live-Selling In The Philippines”

To be in UP Law and UP ISSI to present my undergraduate thesis is so surreal. ICESMED 2023 Book of Abstract: Technology, Innovation and MSME Development

I was part of the few youngest delegates of the country for ICESMED 2023 held at UP College of Law and the Institute for Small Scale Industries University of the Philippines Diliman

Abstract

The World Bank Organization (WBO) reported that human capital development was severely hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2022. In order to compensate, Filipinos adopted online businesses more commonly via part time or full time live-selling. The most common platform for live-selling used during the pandemic according to global index was TikTok which outranked the first quarter growth of Facebook now Meta, Twitter, and Instagram in platform users. While the potential of online live-selling is pertinent at reducing unemployment rates in the Philippines, there have been a recorded number of precarious online employment statuses that Filipinos experience. Many online worker Filipinos are overworked with no guaranteed wages while others have pro
bono menial tasks to adjust with the algorithmic recommendation systems problems that moderates the views, reach, and even the sales of their posts once tagged as a competitor market by bigger shareholders of the TikTok platform. With a triangulation method, this study employed Helmond’s Platformization Theory to analyze TikTok live-selling platform features, TikTok’s business model, and TikTok platform governance as validated by Filipino online live-sellers in the platform. This emerging theory has explained issues with minority sellers online that are overshadowed by the visibility of private companies and online personas with better resource capital to maximize attention economy in browsing profiles. Thus, this research would contribute to the evaluation of virtual live-selling as experienced by Filipino online sellers on TikTok. More importantly, at a macro-economic level this study aimed to discover and reveal the objective realities of platform adoption, MSME policy development, and digital employment and entrepreneurship in the Philippines.

Keywords: algorithmic recommendation systems, labor platformization, precarious employment, TikTok Live-selling, triangulation

City Mayor Joy Belmonte at the University of the Philippines College of Law