PLATFORMIZATION OF THE INDUSTRY OF HUMAN SMUGGLING

Resumen

Due to hardened border practices in EU, migrants and asylum seekers seeking refuge in Europe have to rely on various smuggling services shared on social media platforms and entrepreneurs who advertise services online. Our paper explores the emergence of this dark industry of mobility that operates on social media platforms. Based on interviews with migrants and refugees in Finland, the paper maps digital sites of smuggling and explore the ways in which the migrants, in their highly precarious situation, engaged with smuggling and dealt with the challenges they faced. The aim is to gain a more nuanced understanding of the complications of digital markets around mobility for the people concerned, and most importantly offer insight into the ways in which platform economy shapes migrant mobility and safety of migrants. Moreover we discuss how both platformization and European migration policies are intrinsically connected with the emergence of these markets.