Platform economy database
Database of initiatives and court cases in the EU
Eurofound’s platform economy database provides information on 443 initiatives and court cases that exist or have been implemented in relation to activities in the platform economy. The database was last updated in November 2025 and provides metadata for each entry, such as geographical scope, year, type of initiative, actors involved, sector and companies concerned. Initiatives include legal instruments such as legislative changes or court decisions, as well as voluntary interventions undertaken by different stakeholders to address issues around platform work.
Search
The database currently contains 443 entries and was last updated in November 2025.
Tag
Active
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)published a manual to guide trade unions on how to challenge the use of algorithmic management in the workplace, with a particular focus on the platform economy. It details the significant risks algorithmic systems pose to workers, including opaque and discriminatory work and pay allocation, intensive surveillance, and automated punishments like deactivation from an app.
The manual argues that unions must "negotiate the algorithm" through a combination of strategies:
The manual concludes that unions must build their technical and organisational capacity to deal with data and algorithms. It suggests unions should develop in-house data teams and provide training for all organisers and representatives. By adopting these new data-focused strategies, unions can reduce the information asymmetry between management and labour. The manual frames these new methods not as a replacement for traditional organising, but as "valuable additions—like adding new spokes to an already strong wheel".
The platform economy is one of those moving targets, which, despite receiving increasing media and policy attention, has proven difficult to regulate. Given the heterogeneity of employment relationships, business models, types of platform work and cross-border issues, this is not surprising.
Technological change is accelerating as the capacity of electronic devices to digitally store, process and communicate information expands. Digitalisation is transforming the EU economy and labour markets: nearly one-third of EU workplaces are categorised as highly digitalised. What are the implications of the digital revolution for employment and work?
The rapid rise of the platform economy has led to a marked transformation of European labour markets, and existing regulatory frameworks and voluntary initiatives have yet to catch up. While platform work offers opportunities for workers and employers and potentially contributes to innovation, economic growth and competitiveness in the EU, it has been criticised from the beginning because of the poor employment and working conditions often experienced by workers.
While 2020 may come to be seen as the year platform work gathered pace and started to go mainstream – thanks in large part to COVID-19 containment measures sparking an increase in food and grocery delivery – 2021 could be the year that regulation of platform work is set in motion.
