#PlatformExploitation

Michaël | HouseStationLive.comWHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU WORK FOR TWELVE YEARS ACROSS FOUR DIGITAL PLATFORMS AND EARN ZERO EUROS? May 8, 2025No salary. No contract. No human contact. Just algorithms, silence, and legal dead ends. From Uber Eats to YouTube, from Drivy to Twitch, this is the story of a worker who never stopped — and was never paid. Behind the illusion of flexibility lies a system designed to erase, isolate, and discard. There are no managers to talk to. No offices to visit. No recourse when you’re erased. Don’t Contact YouTube isn’t a cry for help. It’s an appeal to the law. Because recognition won’t come from platforms — it will come from court rulings. Read the full story now. ¯_ DON’T CONTACT YOUTUBEHaving an online activity means relying on partners… who are also online. We depend on social networks that index our content arbitrarily, on software we no longer own but rent monthly, on freelancers scattered across the globe and connected through platforms headquartered abroad. This model, often praised as “modern” or “flexible,” is in reality a legal nightmare. You can’t just grab your coat and go talk to these partners. You can’t write to them. You can’t call them. You can’t even appoint a lawyer: their offices are located outside France, and even when local jurisdiction would be required by law, platforms contractually enforce the jurisdiction of their own country — which already constitutes a violation, notably under Articles L.111-1 and L.221-1 of the French Consumer Code, or European Directive 2011/83/EU. ¯_ JOURNALISTS ALREADY SPOKE OUTFrench journalist Sébastien-Abdelhamid turned it into a running gag on the show On n’est pas des pigeons (France 4). He flew to the United States, spent hours on a plane, just to film himself standing in front of the Facebook or Google headquarters… and being told by a security guard: “You’re not getting in.” Those sequences are a goldmine to understand the problem. These companies behave like mafias: physical gatekeeping, security guards instead of reception staff, no way to access the offices — not even to drop off a resume. ¯_ A PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE KIND OF VIOLENCEOnline, this power dynamic becomes invisible. It manifests as a more subtle, insidious form of violence: bots, FAQ pages, contact forms that never get a reply. You don’t give up because you’re lazy, or because you didn’t try. You give up because it is factually impossible to speak to a human being at these companies. ¯_ THE FRENCH STATE IS COMPLICITIn this age of normalized brutality, governments turn a blind eye. I filed a complaint against the French State. Article 223-6 of the French Penal Code states that the failure to assist a person in danger can apply to anyone — including the State — when aware of an ongoing threat. The lack of action in the face of GAFAM dominance is a failure of duty. These giants rule unchallenged, while everyone else either submits to them… or silently collapses. ¯_ THE LAW REQUIRES CUSTOMER SUPPORTLet’s be clear: every company is legally required to provide customer service. This is a legal obligation under French law. And in professional contexts involving payments or partnerships, the penalties can be even more severe. When your ability to eat depends on an algorithm — and you have no way to appeal — the very notion of “business” becomes a farce. ¯_ ||<a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/HSLdiary" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#HSLdiary</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/HSLmichael" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#HSLmichael</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/DigitalLabour" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DigitalLabour</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/PlatformExploitation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PlatformExploitation</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/InvisibleWork" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#InvisibleWork</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/JusticeForFreelancers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#JusticeForFreelancers</a>

Michaël | HouseStationLive.comHOUSE STATION LIVE: A COLLECTIVE SABOTAGEDOf course, I edited and hosted most of the videos myself. But House Station Live was never meant to be the project of a lone individual. It was a collective—a platform to showcase young talent, not yet another vlog centered on my own persona. This YouTube channel was supposed to serve as the launch campaign for an ambitious webTV, broadcasting 24/7 on our own servers. An alternative to traditional media, with our rules, our voices, our style. But very quickly, I had to put House Station Live on hold. YouTube was too demanding. And paradoxically, it was the only way not to end up in debt. ¯_ JOSÉ, DINOH, KÉVINI worked with several presenters:- José, charismatic but without his own following,- Dinoh, competent but limited by lack of visibility,- And Kévin, a freelance editor I hired for some episodes.I spent a tremendous amount of time organizing castings, looking for hosts, trying to convince people. But how do you persuade someone to represent a channel that gets 20 views—even with decent pay? Even "generous" payments weren’t enough to keep people motivated. Eventually, candidates dropped out. ¯_ THE TRAP OF FULL-TIME COMMITMENTI no longer had the means to produce both House Station Live and YouTube content in parallel. So I bet everything on the platform. YouTube consumed me. Managing production, editing, recruitment, technical direction, scheduling, testing formats, durations, themes, hosts—I tried it all:- Videos from 1 to 50 minutes,- On all kinds of topics: video games, Formula 1, news, reviews, let’s plays.But convincing a freelancer to commit long-term at a low rate is a nightmare. I couldn’t afford to pay for many hours or high rates. My channel brought in zero revenue. I had nothing to reinvest. ¯_ A TEAM SACRIFICEDAnd yet, I tried. House Station Live wasn’t just a personal project. It was a collective hope. A launchpad. Momentum. We wanted to build an audience ahead of time, so that once the set was ready, we could immediately produce, publish, and exist. But in reality, YouTube swiped us away with a single gesture—like a Tinder match rejected with a left swipe. And it cost them nothing. No time. No money. No emotional weight. ¯_ A CHANNEL, A GRINDERYouTube contributes nothing to the creation of videos. It has no personal interest in whether your content finds its audience. The algorithm sorts, tests, eliminates. It's math-driven, disembodied, dehumanized. And the creator falls alone. On TV, you don’t air a million-euro show at 4 a.m. There’s programming, a respect for what’s been produced. On YouTube, no distinction: whether your video cost €10,000 or €0, it’s treated the same. ¯_ A FRUSTRATED AUDIENCE, A BROKEN CREATOR13-year-old trolls watch your content for 5 seconds, dislike your face, and move on. The algorithm knows this—and exploits it. It drives hatred and constant frustration, so you keep trying harder. For nothing. And if you dare believe your freshness, creativity, and sincerity will resonate... you crash into a machine that despises who you are. ¯_ ||<a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/HSLdiary" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#HSLdiary</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/HSLmichael" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#HSLmichael</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/IndieCreators" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#IndieCreators</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/CollectiveMedia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#CollectiveMedia</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/YouTubeStruggles" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#YouTubeStruggles</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/DigitalBurnout" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DigitalBurnout</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/PlatformExploitation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PlatformExploitation</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/SmallCreators" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SmallCreators</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/CreatorEconomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#CreatorEconomy</a> <a href="https://hear-me.social/tags/HopeSabotaged" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#HopeSabotaged</a>

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