On its face, the "gig economy" seems like a simple catch-all phrase... a vast and expansive phrase describing anything that vaguely resembles independent contract work―but through an app.

But here’s the thing: the gig economy doesn’t actually exist.

By skirting US labor laws, a host of companies can misclassify their workers as independent contractors, exempt them from basic rights or social welfare programs, and then pay them less than minimum wage in many cases. None of this is really new and it’s certainly not an “economy.” Rather, Silicon Valley has managed to reinvent piecework, albeit in a digital form, whereby workers are forced to work longer hours unpaid as they wait for assignments that'll pay paltry sums.

All of that is a mouthful to get out, so it’s been branded as the “gig economy.” An earlier iteration of the term―the “sharing economy”―failed to take hold after it became obvious that there was not much sharing going on, so much as merely renting what you own.

... In doing so, gig companies have undertaken exploitative and illegal behavior over the years while distracting from how bad they are for workers, consumers, various communities, and the economy at large.

...And now that gig companies are looking to replicate regulatory victories such as Proposition 22 nationwide and abroad, having a grasp on the industry is more important than ever. This is Motherboard’s guide to a core group of buzzwords, phrases, talking points, and strategies deployed over the years by gig companies to advance their cause.