Online work as humanitarian relief: The promise and limitations of digital livelihoods for Syrian refugees and Lebanese youth in times of crisis

The global spread of a web-based digital economy raises questions about its potential as a lifeline to people affected by severe economic and humanitarian crises. As local markets crumble and unemployment rises, online freelance work offers a seemingly accessible source of income that is independent from the constraints of local markets and national regulations. This article scrutinizes this promise against the backdrop of multiple evolving crises in Lebanon, asking to what extent a transnational digital economy can serve crisis-affected populations, including refugees, as a secure source of income and work.

The research is based on interviews and surveys with Syrian refugees and host community members in Lebanon, who participated in digital skills training programmes and worked as digital freelancers for Social Impact Platforms and Enterprises (SIPEs). Their experience shows how the impact of Lebanon’s crises undermined the feasibility of web-based digital work precisely at a time when they needed it most. Syrian refugees in Lebanon are affected by particular layers of regulatory restriction, including their exclusion from digital platforms, skills training programmes, and the financial system. As these layers of exclusion intersect with the precarity of self-employed digital jobs and a severe economic crisis, Syrians’ displacement in Lebanon is reconfigured into a digital space of exile within a transnational digital economy. Viewed from this perspective, the digital economy fails to live up to its inclusive promise and fails to transcend the restrictive regulations, economic instability, and precarity that characterises crisis-affected states and populations.