Some Ukrainian freelancers who previously faced account blocking on the Upwork platform but were «amnestied» after an appeal from the Ministry of Digital Transformation report that they have been blocked again. The Ministry of Digital Transformation is investigating what happened.
Some Ukrainian freelancers who previously faced account blocking on the Upwork platform but were «amnestied» after an appeal from the Ministry of Digital Transformation report that they have been blocked again. The Ministry of Digital Transformation is investigating what happened.
The situation was brought to the attention of Kyrylo Kozak, the founder of Getmany.com and former community manager of Upwork in Ukraine, who created a chat for freelancers who encountered blocking.
In early July, Ukrainian freelancers reported that their accounts were being blocked on Upwork in large numbers. The wave of blockings included at least 100 cases, including accounts with an income of $300,000. They called on the Ministry of Digital Transformation to intervene in the matter.
Subsequently, 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. In early August, he announced the start of unblocking Ukrainian accounts.
Now dozens of Ukrainian freelancers are reporting repeated blockings.
«Today the account is blocked again. I was unblocked literally a week ago. I didn’t take any action, and today 'your account suspended'», — wrote one Upwork user.
«I was blocked for the first time in April, they requested verification, everything went through, I didn’t change my address. Two weeks later, they requested video verification (Upwork Call), and I passed that too. As a result, the account was unblocked. After 3 weeks, verification and proof of address again. Everything went through, I provided paper proof. They unblocked me for a day and then a permanent ban again. Now five days ago they unblocked me, and yesterday they blocked me again without any explanation at all, not even a reply», — another Ukrainian freelancer noted.
«Same story with unbanning and re-banning. A week ago I was unbanned from a permanent ban, submitted several proposals — one client responded and just started discussing the project with him — again a ban without a notification to the email and an explanation of the reasons», — another Upwork user confirms the problem with the re-blocking.
«It seems to me that they are just playing a prank on us, after the second ban, we received this email», — wrote a Ukrainian freelancer, who attached a screenshot of an email from Upwork to his post asking for feedback on the latest order.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation responded to new complaints from freelancers about the blocking of Upwork, and stated that they are currently investigating the reasons. In a comment to Forbes Ukraine, a ministry representative noted that they are considering a possible technical failure, a rollback of previous changes, or a new wave of blocking.
«Fortunately, we have already established working communication with Upwork representatives, and they respond to our requests quite quickly», — the Ministry of Digital Transformation says.
