How is labor changing in a digital society? The theory of digital labor was born out of a strong need to respond to the changing nature and form of labor under the influence of digital technology. With a focus on the rapid growth of digital information technology, the scope of digital labour has expanded considerably and more and more “labor” activities can be prefixed with “digital”. In resonance with the digital economy, digital labor has gradually been constructed as a historical representation that transcends “industrial labor” and thus acquires a new value and mission. The changing research environment has stirred up the tension between empirical occurrences and theoretical constructions, reshuffling the conceptual references, attributes and theoretical perspectives of digital labor researches, highlighting its multiple dilemmas between employment orientation and non-employment orientation, deprivation orientation and empowerment orientation, disintegration and reintegration. In the light of the urgent need for new developments in digital labor researches, it is important to straighten out the ways and paths through which digital labor has been theorised in historical and global contexts, and then to explore and reflect on possible ways to break out of the dilemmas.