VC money is fueling a global boom in worker surveillance tech

Technologies that promise to track, manage, and supervise workers, increasingly using artificial intelligence, are getting entrenched in the developing world, according to a new report by Coworker.org, a labor rights nonprofit based in New York. 

Audits of more than 150 startups and regional companies based in Kenya, Nigeria, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, and India showed workplace surveillance is expanding in scale and sophistication, the researchers said. While large corporations are known to develop surveillance technologies, a so-called Little Tech ecosystem of mostly unregulated, venture capital-funded startups and small vendors making these products has grown since Covid-19, the report found. The term “Little Tech” was popularized by the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, which argued that excessive regulation was stifling innovation.

Algorithmic management and surveillance tools are getting even more intrusive in gig work, and are entering offices and the informal labor sector as well, Wilneida Negrón, director of research and policy at Coworker.org and a co-author of the report, told Rest of World. 

“The pressure of the hyper-surveillance creates a lot of stress and creates a lot of uncertainty for workers. It brings a culture of suspiciousness,” she said. 

Investments by Silicon Valley-based VC firms led to a boom in tech startups globally after Covid-19, Negrón said. This has carried over to companies building bossware products in the developing world, she said.  

The technologies include biometric tracking, AI-powered productivity monitoring, and predictive analytics, the report found. Worker data is continuously collected and analyzed by algorithms with the stated aim to improve hiring, evaluate performance, and optimize processes. 

Most managers in wealthier nations say algorithmic management tools improve their decision-making, according to a 2024 survey of over 6,000 employers by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. More than 90% of American managers used such tools, especially to reward or sanction employees.

Many tools are first deployed in Latin America, where labor laws are less strictly enforced, according to Ayden Férdeline, a tech policy researcher in Berlin and a co-author of the report.

“There is a Latin America testing ground for products,” he told Rest of World. “If they are successful, they tend to be deployed in other jurisdictions, oftentimes with additional safeguards, sometimes not.”

Many workers are unaware of how their information is collected and used, Férdeline said. 

Some gig workers in Kenya, Guatemala, and Brazil said bossware tools make them feel surveilled, and that they have less control over their work. In Porto Alegre, Brazil, Uber driver Carina Trindade told Rest of World she feels the app monitors her continuously, tracking her speed and braking patterns. The app has permissions to access her mic and camera, she said. 

Uber spokesperson Gabriel Gabira said drivers have the option to record trips, and privacy terms are followed to access the footage.

In Nairobi, Godfrey Sanya Wanga, a driver for ride-hailing firm SafeBoda, told Rest of World he felt the app undercharged a customer. “I really wanted to ask [the customer] to pay me more, but I remembered that I was being monitored and this would bring me trouble if the client reported me,” he said. SafeBoda did not respond to a request for comment.

Several nations have data protection and privacy laws, including Brazil, Nigeria, and Kenya. But enforcement is inconsistent, the report said.

Here are five current uses of algorithmic management tools. The companies mentioned below did not comment, unless otherwise stated. 

1. Timekeeping and attendance systems 

What: Platforms that track the attendance of workers, often using geolocation and biometrics to verify presence. 

Example: Rankmi, based in Chile, uses biometrics and geolocation to track workers. The platform also gives workers continuous performance feedback and evaluates job applicants using AI. 

2. Biometric and identity verification tools

What: Tools that use fingerprint and facial-recognition checks, special digital signatures stored on a secure network, and official records to confirm a worker’s identity before granting access. 

Example: Cincel, based in Mexico, provides identity verification tools that do various checks including biometrics, and also cross-check against government databases and blacklists.

3. Performance and productivity monitoring platforms

What: Dashboards that score workers using tracked metrics such as keystrokes, transaction counts, customer interactions, and task completion times.

Example: Ahgora, based in Brazil, offers HR software that allows managers to continually “oversee team attendance in real-time” and that tracks productivity. It uses the data to offer predictions about work, such as potential issues with attendance, which can inform decision-making. 

4. Algorithmic management and predictive analytics

What: Platforms that

Example: Visier’s AI-powered analytics platform analyzes HR data and provides insights, including resignation risk. The platform is used by global firms including Deloitte, Accenture, and Tata Consultancy Services. 

Andrea Derler, principal of research and customer value at Visier, told Rest of World the platform only “processes data that organizations load into the platform, and we are not responsible for the way the data and insights we help provide is being used.” 

5.  Gig economy and field workforce tracking

What: Apps that use the workers’ smartphones to dispatch and route deliveries. They use location, trip history, and ratings to allocate jobs and evaluate performance. Workers are managed mostly by platforms rather than humans.

Example: RappiiRappiRappi, a Colombian company, has been providing delivery services across most Latin American countries since 2015.READ MORE, a Colombian delivery app, tracks workers in real time. It has auto accept, where a rider can’t decline orders — and it’s mandatory to qualify for bonuses. Delivery worker Carolina Ramírez told Rest of World she works 14-hour days to earn a bonus of 100,000 pesos ($25) every week, leaving her little time for anything else. “My boss is the app. It’s unfair because to earn a good salary, I have to dedicate myself almost exclusively to this,” she said.