Some workers in Amazon’s Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing platform had their payments accounts suspended without explanation due to a technical issue last week. This led to them being unable to log into the platform and participate in projects that earn them income. While some workers had their accounts restored over the weekend, others were still experiencing issues as of Tuesday.
Amazon spokesperson Montana MacLachlan stated that they have largely resolved the system issue causing the problem for some Mechanical Turk workers. However, the slow recovery process has left some workers concerned about the impact on their ability to participate in projects and earn income. Turkers, as they are referred to, have also been discussing the issue on Reddit in the Mechanical Turk subreddit.
Workers began contacting GeekWire about the issue after Amazon.com’s checkout system experienced an outage on Friday afternoon, leading some to believe that the two problems were related. However, it is unclear if the checkout system outage had any connection to the payment accounts being suspended. This incident is just one of many problems that have affected Amazon’s payments platforms, including delayed payouts to Amazon Flex drivers last month.
Some workers who reached out for support were directed to Amazon Payments, which then sent them back to Mechanical Turk, indicating confusion within the company about the issue. In one instance, a worker was told that their account was suspended because Amazon couldn’t verify their email address. Amazon Payments suggested some workers create new accounts with different email addresses, but workers were worried about violating terms of service and being permanently banned.
The issues with the Mechanical Turk payment accounts being suspended highlight the risks of relying on crowdsourcing platforms for income. These workers, often referred to as Turkers, depend on participating in projects to earn money, and any disruptions to their payment accounts can have serious financial implications. It also sheds light on the challenges faced by workers in navigating support systems and resolving issues with payments on platforms like Mechanical Turk.
