Hong Kong: Despite a challenging political climate, food delivery riders in Hong Kong have risen in protest against Keeta, a rapidly expanding food delivery platform owned by Chinese giant Meituan. Since May 2025, around 270 riders have been striking against what they describe as an algorithm-driven system that has slashed their earnings and increased their workload.
According to Global Voices, the strikes erupted a month after the British food delivery company Deliveroo exited the Hong Kong market, succumbing to fierce competition from Keeta, which joined the city’s food delivery scene in May 2023. Within just a year, Keeta outpaced competitors, capturing a 43% market share by the first quarter of 2024, eclipsing both Foodpanda and Deliveroo.
The core issue for the striking riders centers on Keeta’s payment model, which divides workers into pay categories based on delivery mode, from motorcyclists to those on foot. Workers claim the platform manipulates this model to force them into multiple delivery tasks
during peak hours, offering slightly higher pay for significantly more work, while non-peak times yield much lower earnings.
The Delivery Workers Rights Concern Group highlights the precarious conditions delivery workers face, noting 19 workplace injuries in 2024. As self-employed contractors, the riders receive no compensation for work-related injuries, adding to their grievances.
Keeta’s aggressive cost-cutting measures, implemented after Deliveroo’s market exit, have intensified the protests. These include reduced pay rates for both long and short-distance deliveries and the controversial K Go scheme, which cuts riders’ pay rates further in exchange for higher order priority. The Grab the Task alert feature, which pressures workers to constantly check their app for orders, has also been criticized for compromising safety.
Khan, a 26-year-old Keeta delivery worker, shared his frustration with online media outlet Collective HK, detailing how the average per-task pay rate dropped from HKD 50 to HKD 35. Un
der the K Go scheme, this rate could fall to HKD 25 per order, forcing workers to choose between lower pay or risk losing out on higher-paying tasks.
The introduction of new features by Keeta’s parent company, Meituan, has sparked protests in mainland China as well, with authorities pledging to address the pressure these systems place on workers. However, in Hong Kong, riders like Khan criticize the Grab the Task feature as a safety hazard, citing personal experiences of accidents and hospitalizations due to the need to check the app while driving.
Throughout May, strikes have erupted across Hong Kong, with workers demanding the abolition of the K Go and Grab the Task features, higher pay rates, and formal employment contracts. While the Hong Kong government has promised new regulations to protect delivery workers’ rights, the crackdown on labor unions and the struggling restaurant industry have weakened workers’ bargaining power.
As Keeta expands into Saudi Arabia and Brazil, the reception of its business
and worker management practices in these new markets remains uncertain.