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Based on the case of a food delivery platform, this article reveals the ethical problems posed by the application of algorithmic systems and explores the actions taken by platform workers to ensure that their rights are respected in the difficult political context of China. The author draws on a seven-month field survey in three Chinese cities and an analysis of official Chinese government documents. Outside the platform system, delivery workers facing these work-related ethical issues develop informal solidarity against the algorithmic system and the companies. They build communication spaces through social media to organize actions, and they find strategies of resistance, such as turning off their mobile phone positioning system (Diaoxian) at work and, in case of bad weather, launching strikes to counter the system. Sometimes the delivery workers’ protest shifts from collective to individual action. These informal practices of the workers, who associate the algorithmic system with a “socio-technical controversy”, are a first step towards government regulation of algorithmic systems in China.