There are many ways these companies are taking advantage of people, I have some small data points / insights, it would be easy to mark some of them as 'well they designed for this one thing and did not think about the other thing, so it was not intentional'
- but for example, if you look at how the office folks are treated at lyft compared to how the driver 'hiring people' are treated, and how the drivers are treated, and how the customers are treated - you can easily see some very stark differences in many things.. and so it is intentional.

Sure they have free will and all that - but certain dark patterns definitely take advantage, and other omissions are an issue as well.

'The game theory' that keeps people driving and picking up more people and guiding them to hot spots for bonuses for example is not helping the driver be more healthy and alert and safe - it helps the company get coverage where they are lacking.

Quick payments could be advertised as bonus help - but if we are totally honest it helps attract and keep people who are trapped in addictions to keep doing things - so it may be a good thing but also in some cases a take advantage of people thing.

The 'money earned' thing is gamified in many ways.. from the emails saying 'make X dollars per week / month when you come back to drive with us' - to the lack of showing expenses.. many people are ignorant of what they make each week after expenses and have zero clue about tax burdens, and lack of investment in social security and other things they would glean from standard jobs.

Hey I am not hating on this - and it can be super great for the single parent who need super flexible work option temporarily for example- but it's a farce.

I frequently talked to drivers who were all shiny happy people showing they made "$1,000 this week' - but had no real understanding that they spent $400 on gas this past week compared to the 200 the week before, did not account for the car maintenance and no clue about the taxes owed.

At least in the market around here, I calculated the average money made to be about $6 per hour once considering taxes and gas.. and this is for a semi-dangerous job - no not talking about the passengers which are mostly okay - just driving around streets that many more hours is adding that much more danger of wrecks and such.

It would be trivial for these companies to add in expense reporting, scheduling for maintenance and taxes and bathroom breaks - but they don't - and we know why - it's the start-up- gig culture trying to maximize the valuation for wall street at the expense of those who are less educated about the sacrifices being made in the short term.

I have many more small data points to add - from pics of the tires some of these drivers are using to the lack of transparency about surges in more drivers coming - to uncompensated long drives to last minute cancelled rides - all sorts of things that are at the expense of those that can least afford it - and at this point these companies should know better about a lot of these things - but they are purposefully kicking those cans down the line to future issues in order to prop up the quarterlies for the short term benefit of those who do know better.

This could be a blog post with some pics and screenshots for better examples I guess. Oh, and the effects on the riders.. so many things to add - but the question was proof of taking advantage of gig workers.