Tech platforms facing rebellions

When Jak found online marketplace Etsy, it seemed like the perfect match: a tech platform for small traders to sell handmade items that promised to be a creative outlet and bring tidy profits.

Five years later, Jak is one of thousands in open rebellion against the place they once saw as a safe haven - part of a growing trend of users rising up against tech platforms.

"We were lured in with the 'shop small' slogans and low fees and useful marketplace, and then once everyone had built their stores up, they started to tighten their grip and bleed us dry," said the 30-year-old, who runs an online shop from

Glasgow in Scotland and asked their surname not be used.

New York-based Etsy, which boasts sales of $5 billion a year from around 5 million sellers and 90 million buyers, drew fury for hiking the fees it charges its small traders.

More than 10,000 of its sellers closed their shops for a week from April 11, in effect going on strike.

It came weeks after users of video-sharing platform Vimeo expressed outrage at a similar price hike, and users of social media platform OnlyFans forced the owners to abandon a proposal to ban explicit content.

Amazon has had countless battles with its sellers - a recent survey in Germany concluded almost 80 percent were unhappy with their relationship with the e-commerce giant.

And Uber faces frequent unrest - Indian drivers are currently refusing to turn on air-conditioning in protest at spiralling fuel prices and low fares.

"We're entering a period of revolt and rebellion now," said Vili Lehdonvirta, a professor from Oxford University who tackles the power of tech platforms in a forthcoming book "Cloud Empires."

While he reckons many of these rebellions have a...