If you are being exploited at work, aren’t you going to take a stand?
This is precisely what workers for the Chinese food delivery platform Keeta did, protesting against an unfair work system.
‘Unfair’
According to a report on Hong Kong Free Press, one of the star publications in the East Asian city, approximately 270 riders working for Keeta have gone on strike to protest what they tagged as “unfair system” that has seen their earnings reduced massively.
A rider for Keeta told the publication that while a cross-district order, such as delivering from Hung Hom to Tsim Sha Tsui, used to pay over $8, riders are now just earning around $6. Oh my.
The protesters gathered recently in Central, one of the major business districts in Hong Kong, holding up signs that read, “No fair fees, no food for customers,” “Riders are part of Keeta’s business, be fair to riders,” and in Chinese, “We’re deliverymen, not drones.”
Yikes. A protester told Ridesharing Forum, “We Central riders are sick of Keeta’s unfair work system… and we are on strike [for the] whole day today to show our refusal to tolerate Keeta’s continuous order fee reduction and mistreatment of riders.
Since May 2025
The strikes have been ongoing since May 2025, and they were mainly against the algorithmic exploitation of Keeta, a food delivery platform owned by Meituan.
Keeta was founded in 2010 and has since enacted its core belief: “We help people eat better, live better.” On its official LinkedIn page, this delivery giant stated that it is on a mission to revolutionize food and consumer product delivery across the globe.
These strikes happened after British food delivery app Deliveroo, launched in 2015, exited the Hong Kong market after cut-throat competition with Keeta, which entered the Hong Kong market in May 2023.
Though fairly new in Hong Kong, it had overtaken Singapore’s foodpanda, swiftly becoming the city’s most popular and biggest food delivery platform.
By the first quarter of last year, Keeta’s market share by order had reached a whopping 43 percent, successfully overthrowing foodpanda Hong Kong, whose shares were down to 37 percent, while Deliveroo’s share was left at 20 percent.
Blaming it on AI + injuries
The protesters blamed Keeta’s use of artificial intelligence, or AI, “to theoretically ensure high-quality and efficient delivery service,” the media present during the protests stated.
Like foodpanda, Keeta divides its workers into four pay rate categories. Those who deliver on motorcycles receive the highest rates, of course, while those who deliver on foot receive the lowest.
To overcome the labor shortage during peak hours, the platforms allegedly manipulate the payment model so that workers can work double time and double tasks before they can receive their payments.
This then implies that Keeta’s delivery workers must rush during peak hours, while during non-busy hours, when multiple delivery tasks are not available, they are forced to earn less, as the payment for a single delivery task is significantly lower.
Not only on payment schemes, but there were also alleged workplace injuries that happened last year. And since the delivery workers are considered self-employed, Keeta often refuses to compensate them for these injuries.
The media released no official statement from Keeta as of this time of writing.
The protests and strikes have gotten to serious levels. The recent protests in Central are just part of a massive, bigger picture, since there were also demonstrations in Kwai Chung in late April, as well as one in Tsuen Wan and another in Kowloon City last week.