Remotasks, a pay-per-task platform, has halted its operations in Kenya and blocked its users from accessing the website.
Remotasks users report that since Mar 8, they have encountered an error message on opening the website and received an email informing them that they have been off-boarded.
The platform, owned by a San Francisco startup called Scale AI, has been instrumental in the development of Artificial Intelligence by onboarding users all over the world to train AI models. Remotasks gained prominence for its flexibility and willingness to train new entries before allocating tasks.
It also paid its users to perform other assignments like copywriting, transcription, software engineering, and design since its creation in 2017.
“We are reaching out with an important announcement regarding Remotasks operations in your location. We are discontinuing operations in your current location effective March 8, 2024,” the email stated.
Remotasks experienced an influx of Kenyan users in 2021 adding it to the list of valued online gig websites in the country. The rising unemployment rate has forced young people, campus students and graduates alike, to utilize a variety of skills in the digital space to earn an income.
Potential Reasons
In mid-February this year, President William Ruto met an ICT Diploma student from Kaiboi Polytechnic in Nandi County called Brian Kipchumba, who excitedly narrated how lucrative it was working on Remotasks. Kipchumba revealed that since December 2023, he had earned about $284, enabling him to sustain himself.
President William Ruto then emphasized that the key to job creation in Kenya lies in the digital space. The government was set to construct digital hubs in all wards across Kenya, serviced with reliable internet and infrastructure. Many Kenyans working on Remotasks described their discontent with Kipchumba’s revelation on social media, citing that governmental supervision would ultimately clash with the platform’s operations within the country.
A recent exposé in the Washington Post revealed that Remotasks unfairly remunerated and even withheld payments of its freelancers in the Philippines. Closing its Kenyan operations could be a way to evade strict regulations and structured control.
“The Remotasks purge is one of the reasons people ‘gate-keep’ most online opportunities,” said a former Remotasks user on X (formerly Twitter).
Other potential reasons could be substandard work and the unethical purchase and selling of accounts. Due to the varying rates of payment across the world, some Kenyan users also tend to use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) from high-paying regions to earn more money. This trend could also force the platform to penalize its Kenyan base by sidelining them from accessing the site.
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