Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov wrote a letter to Upwork CEO Hayden Brown due to complaints from Ukrainian IT professionals about blocking on the platform. The head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation called on Upwork to change its account blocking policy.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov wrote a letter to Upwork CEO Hayden Brown due to complaints from Ukrainian IT professionals about blocking on the platform. The head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation called on Upwork to change its account blocking policy.
«The Ukrainian IT sector is critically important for the Ukrainian economy and is a powerful player in the global market. Many Ukrainian specialists provide services through the Upwork freelance exchange, so the availability of the platform plays an important role in the development of the Ukrainian IT market», — Fedorov noted in his Telegram message.
He said that he wrote an open letter to Upwork CEO Hayden Brown and added that the platform blocks Ukrainian accounts without the ability to appeal even after verification.
Previously, dev.ua reported that Ukrainian freelancers and agencies are being massively blocked on Upwork, who are losing not only their accounts, but also, in some cases, their only sources of income. More than 100 cases are already known, including accounts with income of $300,000.
The situation, in particular, was drawn to the attention of the founder of Getmany.com and former community manager of Upwork in Ukraine, Kyrylo Kozak .
«External help is needed here. Upwork is one of the few platforms that really gave Ukrainians the opportunity to survive and scale during the war. But the situation is critical now. If possible, please help with the escalation of this issue», — Kyrylo Kozak called on the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Mykhailo Fedorov to intervene.
After this post on Threads, Kozak was contacted by representatives of the Ministry of Digital Transformation and asked to provide detailed information to resolve the problem at the state level.
According to Fedorov, the following are among the reasons for blocking on Upwork:
«First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your principled position in supporting Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, as well as for restricting access to your platform for aggressor countries — Russia and Belarus. This important gesture of solidarity is deeply appreciated by Ukraine», — Mykhailo Fedorov noted in an open letter to the CEO of Upwork.
He added that at the same time, the Ministry of Digital Transformation is concerned about the recent situation with the mass blocking of accounts of Ukrainian users on Upwork.
Fedorov called on Upwork to review its policy on blocking accounts of Ukrainian users, especially those that were blocked indefinitely without sufficient explanation, despite providing a full package of documents and successful verification.
«We also ask you to introduce an individual approach and review the platform’s policy regarding users who were born or registered in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, but actually reside in the territory controlled by Ukraine and can provide evidence of this. The current approach discriminates against citizens who have not violated any rules, but are subject to restrictions solely due to their geographical registration», — the head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation indicated.
He called on Upwork’s CEO to review the parameters of automated verification systems, which currently disproportionately affect users from frontline and border regions.
According to Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine is «one of the leading countries in Europe in the IT industry, with a dynamically growing IT sector and highly qualified specialists» who are actively working in international markets. He pointed out that blocking on a global freelance platform like Upwork negatively affects the development of an industry that «plays an important role in the Ukrainian economy, especially in times of war».
