Some freelancers say decisions by algorithms are cutting their pay and they can’t fight back, Wired reported.

Wired suggested that freelancers in the gig economy are trapped in a Kafkaesque nightmare, at the beck and call of ever-changing user reviews, performance metrics, and opaque algorithms. Although reputational insecurity isn’t new, when you don’t understand how a platform rates your performance and, with no appeal process in place, workers can be left unable to attract work.

A study published by the British Sociological Association in November found that the majority of gig economy workers feel under threat from feedback processes. Seven in 10 gig economy freelancers providing services for some of the biggest digital labor platforms, including Fiverr and Upwork, are worried about unfair feedback and its negative effect on their future earnings.

Alex Wood, the article’s coauthor and a lecturer in Human Resource Management and Future of Work at Bristol Business School said “Most platforms create some form of control through ranking workers using metrics, which are often based on customer reviews or ratings—but workers don’t understand how it works, in what way the metrics are aggregated, how their ranking position is decided upon, and the consequences for their work.”

One freelancer working through Fiverr saw his monthly profit of between USD 5,000 and USD 6,000 fall to between USD 1,000 and USD 2,000 after he lost the ability to promote his profile on the platform, causing it to slip to the bottom of the last page that potential clients see. He told Wired that when he contacted Fiverr for support, they provided little reassurance and was told not to worry, because rankings switch around all the time.