BANGKOK: When an
Indian customer of online food delivery service Zomato tweeted that he had
cancelled his order because it had been assigned to a non-Hindu worker, and his
request for a Hindu denied, thousands weighed in. "Food doesn't have a
religion. It is a religion," Zomato responded in a tweet that garnered
about 95,000 likes and thousands of comments that supported and criticized the
company's stance.

Last month's
incident was among a long series of allegations of discrimination related to
religion, race, gender or sexual orientation in the so-called gig economy that
also includes ride hailing apps Uber and Ola, and home-sharing platform Airbnb.
The platforms are credited with creating millions of jobs, giving homeowners an
additional income, and providing mobility in underserved areas and for women
who fear harassment on public transport.

Yet they are also
responsible for entrenching biases and deepening socio-economic divides in
cities, and increasing the vulnerability of minority communities, according to
analysts. "There is now ample evidence of racial discrimination on gig
economy platforms, and I would not be at all surprised to see religious
discrimination also," said Don MacKenzie, an assistant professor at the
University of Washington in Seattle.

"The
consequences of this discrimination fall hardest on those who are discriminated
against, but may also have social consequences for cities in general,"
said MacKenzie, who has studied racial discrimination at ride-hailing apps.
More than a third of the global workforce will be in the gig economy by 2023 -
according to Australian recruitment agency Robert Half, and other industry
experts - with independent workers contracted for short-term jobs such as food
delivery and car rides.

Governments are
struggling to keep pace with the industry's rapid growth, and its informal
nature means that it is harder to enforce anti-discriminatory regulations or
social protections. Uber and Ola did not respond to requests for comment.
"Zomato's core values have no place for prejudice and intolerance,"
the company said in a statement.

Implicit
segregation

MacKenzie's study
in Seattle and Boston found "significant evidence" of racial
discrimination, with black riders and those with "black-sounding"
names facing longer wait times and more cancellations than white riders or
those with white-sounding names. Drivers discriminated by not going to certain
neighborhoods; by declining bookings from certain types of passengers or
cancelling bookings; and by leaving low ratings based on race, gender, or
socio-economic status, it showed.

"If
discrimination deters certain classes of individuals from using a platform,
then that platform will support fewer transactions," MacKenzie told the
Thomson Reuters Foundation. "The thinner market that results could mean
fewer options for remaining users, leading to longer wait times for a ride, for
example." Workers also suffer: the "Uberisation" of India's
domestic-work market has entrenched informality, insecurity and discrimination,
and excluded those without smartphones, the London-based Overseas Development
Institute said in a report.

There is also a
lack of transparency around algorithms used to assess and rank workers, and
allocate work, said Alysia Blackham, an associate professor at Melbourne Law
School. "Discrimination is potentially rife in the gig economy," she
said in a recent paper. Examples of discrimination abound from New York to
Mumbai. An Indian user of Ola said he cancelled a ride because the driver was
Muslim. In another incident last year, an Ola driver refused to take a customer
to his destination because it was in a Muslim neighborhood.

Ola said at the
time it did not condone choosing drivers based on their religious background,
or discrimination by its drivers. In another incident that went viral on social
media last year, an Uber driver in New York was kicked off the app after he
asked a lesbian couple to leave the car. Uber said its guidelines did not allow
drivers to discriminate or refuse to provide services based on a person's race,
color, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Airbnb has faced
complaints and lawsuits over racial bias, and even a social media protest,
#AirbnbWhileBlack. A 2016 study by Harvard University professors found requests
from guests with distinctively African-American names were 16% less likely to
be accepted than those from identical guests with white names. "In cities,
there is already implicit segregation in housing and in labour markets along
the lines of race, religion and caste," said Aditi Surie, a senior
associate with the Indian Institute for Human Settlements. "These
platforms entrench the biases and divides."

Behavior change

Cities have found
ways to work around some biases. In San Francisco, long before ride-hailing
apps, "homobiles" offered a safe option to LGBT+ members frustrated
with being denied rides or fearful of being attacked. In several Indian cities,
minority religious groups that were denied homes, set up their own housing
enclaves. But with more transactions moving online, the on-demand economy
exerts enormous influence on how residents in cities live, work, eat and
interact with each other, said Surie.

While the
companies have fairly strong non-discrimination policies, enforcement is
difficult, said MacKenzie. "Legislation and regulation may have a role to
play. Another option is to implement stronger penalties for parties who cancel
a transaction," he said. Other suggestions to eliminate bias include
limiting the data available - such as numbers rather than names, no profile
photographs - and prioritizing minority communities and underserved areas.

Airbnb partnered
with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to
add more black hosts. Zomato added an LGBTQIA-friendly tag for restaurants on
its app. As governments struggle to keep pace with the fast evolving industry,
the platforms themselves may be best positioned to force change, said Surie.
"They have changed consumer behavior so quickly, and they have the power
to change it further. Perhaps that's the better way to battle bias," she
said. - Reuters