Dhaka, March 29 -- For much of the past decade, platforms such as Fiverr and Upwork were celebrated as the great democratisers of global labour. A graphic designer in Rangpur, a copywriter in Lagos, or a data entry clerk in Manila could compete on equal footing for the same client in London or Los Angeles. The model was, for a time, genuinely transformative. What has changed with startling speed is the competitive landscape itself, and for a significant portion of the freelance workforce, the change has not been kind.

The platform numbers tell an uncomfortable story: The headline figures are not ambiguous. Fiverr's active buyer count has fallen every quarter since its peak of 4.3 million in late 2022. By the end of 2024 it had slipped to...