EST. MMXXVI · A PUBLIC RECORD
2 CONFESSIONS · 42 CASESConfess
CR-03823.07.MMXXVI

I nudged gig drivers with the tricks of game design: streak bonuses that evaporate if you log off, quests tuned to keep cars on the road at 2am, the next ride queued before the current one ends so there is never a natural moment to stop. My job was making sure people with none of an employee's protections never felt free to leave.

Case of RecordPublic record
Case of Record

Drawn from the public record, written in the ledger's voice. No individual confessed this entry. The mechanism is documented; the taxonomy is the point.

Source The New York Times — "How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers' Buttons" (2017)

Attribution
No individual confessed this entry
Tags
Algorithmic manipulationEngagement optimizationWage theft

This entry is part of the ledger’s canon, not Volume I. It establishes a named mechanism so that a confession has something to be measured against — read why the canon exists. Real confessions live in Volume I, and the voluntary contributions given alongside them fund scholarships at the School of Critical Design.

Share this case of record
Story card: 1080×1350 · Instagram & TikTok stories
Back to the ledger