Tethered labor: Creation and coercion in the platform economy

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between content creators and multi-channel networks (MCNs) in China’s platform economy through the lens of labor coercion. While previous literature has mainly addressed the flexibility and precarity of creators, little attention has been paid to understanding how profit-driven entities like MCNs shape creative practices. Drawing on lawsuit documents and in-depth interviews with creators, this study introduces the concept of “tethered labor” to examine the tension between creation and coercion across three key dimensions: dependency, de-flexibilization, and resilience. The findings reveal that creators are heavily reliant on MCNs for content production and monetization, often involuntarily due to the threat of MCNs’ punitive power. This dependency enables MCNs to exert substantial control over creators, making creation increasingly de-flexible. However, creators develop tactics to navigate such coercion, and the ongoing struggle has the potential to destabilize MCNs. The results demonstrate that tethered labor constrains the autonomy and flexibility traditionally associated with creative work.