Forced labour in the tech age exposed

Digital 'slavery' such as that of content moderators, trainers and data labellers, is insidious, hidden and underpaid

- Letlhokwa Mpedi & Tshilidzi Marwala

The digital age is characterised by a fragile balance between promise and peril.

The peril is often imagined through the lens of dystopian fiction — tales of mass surveillance, algorithmic control, the erosion of privacy and even an artificial takeover. But beyond these cautionary narratives, the real threats are far more subtle and, in many cases, invisible. One of the most alarming of these is digital forced labour.

Forced labour is prohibited by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Forced Labour Convention 29 of 1930. According to the ILO, forced labour refers to any work performed under coercion, threat or without free and informed consent.

At a national level, South Africa’s Constitution provides a clear prohibition — section 13 states that “no one may be subjected to slavery, servitude or forced labour”. This is supported by domestic legislation such as section 48 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, which gives further effect to this right.

Despite these protections, enforcement mechanisms have not kept pace with the complexities of the developments introduced by digital platforms and transnational digital labour markets.

According to an ILO report, 27.6 million people were coerced into labour in 2021. The projected cost to end forced labour globally is estimated at $212 billion — and this only represents a baseline scenario. Most of this investment is needed in Asia and the Pacific, as well as Europe and Central Asia. But, Africa — and countries like South Africa in particular — is increasingly implicated in less visible forms of forced labour linked to digital work. In these contexts, coercion is more often economic than physical and digital systems obscure rather than reveal the conditions of exploitation.