DAIEM: Decolonizing Algorithm's Role as a Team-member in Informal E-market

In Bangladesh's rapidly expanding informal e-market, small-scale sellers use social media platforms like Facebook to run businesses outside formal infrastructures. These sellers rely heavily on platform algorithms, not just for visibility, but as active collaborators in business operations. Drawing on 37 in-depth interviews with sellers, buyers, and stakeholders, this paper examines how people in informal e-markets perceive and interact with the algorithm as a "team member" that performs sales, marketing, and customer engagement tasks. We found that while sellers and local tech entrepreneurs are interested in developing services to support this industry, buyers and investors place greater trust in human interactions. This reveals a postcolonial tension involving cultural values, local tech education and training, and a mismatch between the global…