How Platform-User Power Relations Shape Algorithmic Accountability: A Case Study of Instant Loan Platforms and Financially Stressed Users in India

Accountability, a requisite for responsible AI, can be facilitated through transparency mechanisms such as audits and explainability. However, prior work suggests that the success of these mechanisms may be limited to Global North contexts; understanding the limitations of current interventions in varied socio-political conditions is crucial to help policymakers facilitate wider accountability. To do so, we examined the mediation of accountability in the existing interactions between vulnerable users and a 'high-risk' AI system in a Global South setting. We report on a qualitative study with 29 financially-stressed users of instant loan platforms in India. We found that users experienced intense feelings of indebtedness for the 'boon' of instant loans, and perceived huge obligations towards loan platforms. Users fulfilled obligations by accepting harsh terms and conditions, over-sharing sensitive data, and paying high fees to unknown and unverified lenders. Users demonstrated a dependence on loan platforms by persisting with such behaviors despite risks of harms such as abuse, recurring debts, discrimination, privacy harms, and self-harm to them. Instead of being enraged with loan platforms, users assumed responsibility for their negative experiences, thus releasing the high-powered loan platforms from accountability obligations. We argue that accountability is shaped by platform-user power relations, and urge caution to policymakers in adopting a purely technical approach to fostering algorithmic accountability. Instead, we call for situated interventions that enhance agency of users, enable meaningful transparency, reconfigure designer-user relations, and prompt a critical reflection in practitioners towards wider accountability. We conclude with implications for responsibly deploying AI in FinTech applications in India and beyond.