Look at the protections employees have that independent contractors don't. There's also very little transparency over pay and how you get assigned jobs.

I have a personal experience that might be relevant. I used to work for Instacart. One day I was leaving a store with groceries and discovered my car's windshield had been smashed. There was shattered glass all over the inside of my car so I reported that I had vehicle problems through the app amd handed off the order to another driver. I was an independent contractor and didn't get compensated for the damage for my car but I also got flagged for failing to complete a delivery and I stopped getting work. I never tried to get compensated for the windshield but I tried to get the incomplete order removed from my record. I finally got driver support on the phone and the guy just yelled at me for being ungrateful that I could still work for Instacart at all. I'm lucky that I no longer need to work gig apps but my heart goes out to people that have to use those to support themselves.