Amazon Mechanical Turk pioneered the microtask economy but provides minimal worker protections. Requesters (employers) have nearly complete control over payment decisions, with no minimum wage requirements. Workers operate as independent contractors with few recourse options when disputes arise.
Requesters can reject completed work and withhold payment with minimal justification required. Workers have limited appeal options, and Amazon rarely intervenes in payment disputes.
Unlike Prolific, MTurk has no minimum hourly rate. Many tasks pay well below minimum wage, sometimes pennies for work taking several minutes.
Many higher-paying tasks require qualifications that are difficult to obtain. New workers face a "chicken and egg" problem accessing better work.
High rejection rates (even from unfair requesters) can lead to account suspension. Workers can be permanently banned with limited appeal processes.
Workers are classified as independent contractors with no employment protections, benefits, or guaranteed work. Tax reporting responsibility falls entirely on workers.
MTurk incorporates Amazon's general terms including mandatory arbitration and class action waivers.
Wide range of task types from surveys to data labeling to transcription provides diverse work options.
Payments transfer directly to bank accounts or Amazon gift card balance, with established payment infrastructure.