Law Commons^™

Corporate Social Responsibility And Crowdwashing In The Gig Economy, Miriam A. Cherry

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Within this Article, I elaborate on the term “crowdwashing,” a neologism. Even though many online platforms describe themselves as “communities” that are part of the “sharing economy,” this “sharing” terminology is largely a misnomer when describing the activities of larger commercialized on-demand platforms. Rather than referring to volunteer efforts for collective benefit, many references to “sharing” in the “sharing economy” refer to the concept of commodification of previously underutilized assets. For example, consider receiving money for the rental of a spare bedroom through AirBnB or the sale of small, previously unproductive periods of time to complete tasks on Amazon’s …