Fact check: It's true. Fiverr did flag Pakistani freelancers as 'unavailable' due to Internet disruptions

Viral posts on Pakistani social media allege that Fiverr, a major online freelance platform, has marked the profiles of Pakistani professionals as “unavailable” due to recent internet slowdowns and outages in the country.

The claim is true.

Claim

“Due to the internet slowdown, Fiverr has thrown thousands of Pakistani freelancers in the category of ‘unavailable’,” a social media user wrote on August 13.

The post included a screenshot of a purported message from Fiverr, stating: “We understand that there may be internet disruption in your area that might make it harder to keep your routine going. To make sure any unexpected order delays won’t hurt your rating, we’re going ahead and temporarily setting your availability status as unavailable.”

The post has been viewed over 28,000 times and shared more than 200 times, to date.

Other users have dismissed the claim as “fake news,” asserting that Fiverr had not issued any such notice.

Fact

The claim is accurate. Fiverr did indeed flag the accounts of Pakistani freelancers as “unavailable” due to internet disruptions in Pakistan.

A Fiverr spokesperson confirmed via email to Geo Fact Check on August 16 that its email circulating online was authentic.

“The email in question is authentic and is an official communication from Fiverr,” the spokesperson wrote. 

The email further stated that in situations where its freelancers are potentially impacted by a “major issue like this outage in Pakistan”, Fiverr ensures that its freelancers are protected and their buyers supported.

“We did this in early August, first informing freelancers from Pakistan who may have been impacted that we were flagging their account as unavailable (to ensure they were not getting clients lining up when they were unable to support them),” the spokesperson explained.

The spokesperson further clarified that most of the accounts, if not all, have now returned to normal.

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