Crowdmilking is a phenomenon where companies exploit the creativity and labour of online communities for profit, without offering fair compensation. It’s a business model that thrives on the free labour of individuals, often without their knowledge or consent. This exploitation is made possible by the lack of regulation in the digital labour market.

Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are prime examples of crowdmilking. They generate revenue by selling targeted ads, using the content created by their users. These platforms do not pay their users for the content they produce, yet they profit from it immensely.

The issue extends beyond social media platforms. Crowdsourcing websites like Amazon Mechanical Turk and TaskRabbit are also guilty of exploiting their users. They offer low pay for tasks, often below minimum wage, and take a significant cut of the pay for themselves.

The lack of transparency in these platforms’ business models is a significant issue. Users are often unaware of how much their content or labour is worth, and how much profit these platforms are making from it. There’s a need for better regulation and transparency in the digital labour market to protect users from exploitation.

While the internet has democratised creativity and labour, it has also opened up new avenues for exploitation. Crowdmilking is a stark reminder of the dark side of the digital economy.

Go to source article: http://collectivate.net/journalisms/2014/3/9/crowdmilking.html