Unveiling the Nature of Affiliate Work in the Platform Economy

This study contributes to the platform labor scholarship by introducing affiliates as a distinct category of platform workers and uncovering the fundamental characteristics of affiliate work. Employing a qualitative case study approach, the research focuses on the Trendyol Affiliate Program (TAP) in Turkey, drawing on document analysis and semi-structured interviews with sixteen affiliates. The findings demonstrate that affiliate work primarily consists of creating promotional content, generating product links, and providing pre- and post-sale support to followers. In doing so, affiliates operate as independent contractors navigating unstable income streams. Their labor is governed by algorithmic control mechanisms embedded within the program’s evaluative infrastructure, which generate information and power asymmetries that intensify their precarity. Bringing these findings into dialogue with the literature on influencers and content creators, the study argues that affiliates do not fit neatly within existing classifications of platform-mediated content workers and should instead be recognized as a distinct category.