Affective labour on Kuaishou: Sister Zhao and her cyber karaoke Bbr

This chapter explores gendered digital labour on the short video-sharing platform Kuaishou through the case of Zhao Jie (Sister Zhao), a female rural user who earns a living as a street vendor selling pancakes. Although Kuaishou provides her with a degree of empowerment and a sense of community, these "positive" aspects are tempered by the technological and social protocols that reinforce, rather than subvert precarity and gendered hierarchies.