Upwork blocks Ukrainian freelancers: what’s going on
5 July 13:18
The largest freelance exchange Upwork has started blocking Ukrainians on a massive scale, causing them to lose millions of dollars. Entrepreneur and founder of Getmany.io and former Upwork community manager Kyrylo Kozak said that this happens after verification.
This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to Kozak, users receive verification requests, after which their accounts are instantly blocked without the possibility of appeal. Among the victims are both individual professionals and companies officially registered in Ukraine that conduct transparent activities.
In addition, he notes, there is currently no regional support for the platform for Ukrainian users. Official channels of communication with the Upwork team have been closed, and the community branch for Ukraine has been removed. As a result, businesses are losing a stable source of income.
Kozatsky addressed the Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov on Threads. He confirmed that he understood the problem and passed the task to the team to work on.
Later, Kozatsky wrote on his Telegram that representatives of the Ministry of Digital Transformation had contacted him with a request to provide more details and cases to resolve the situation at the state level.
What Upwork is known for
Upwork is an international platform for finding remote specialists and teams. Payment is made through the service itself, which charges a commission from contractors: from 20% to 5% depending on the amount of the transaction (the higher the amount of work, the lower the percentage). The company was founded by Greek entrepreneurs and is headquartered in California. In 2022, Upwork stopped operating in Russia and Belarus.
Upwork is used by large customers such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon. It is difficult to get to such customers, mostly only by personal invitation. The Upwork Enterprise list, which regularly hires contractors to work with such brands, includes about 50 Ukrainian companies and 100 freelancers.
The highest status on the platform is Expert-Vetted. Only about 1% of users receive this status, and Upwork itself assigns it at its own discretion. The official criteria are not disclosed.
