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.
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The database currently contains 443 entries and was last updated in November 2025.
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Spain
In July 2025, Spain's Social Security (an administrative body) demanded €450 million from the delivery platform Glovo. The demand, reported in August 2025, is for unpaid social security contributions and fines. It results from investigations by Spanish labour authorities, which concluded that Glovo's model of using self-employed (autonomous) riders violated Spain's 'Rider Law'.
The €450 million demand is part of a larger potential liability (contingency) estimated by Glovo's parent company, Delivery Hero, to be between €520 million and €860 million. Labour inspections determined that Glovo's modifications to its autonomous model after the 'Rider Law' was introduced were insufficient to comply with the legislation. Glovo must pay or provide a guarantee for the €450 million to be able to continue its legal appeals against the decision.
Delivery Hero's financial report noted that this situation creates "significant uncertainty" about Glovo's ability to continue operating in Spain without further financial support from its parent company.
In response to the regulatory pressure, Glovo completed the hiring of 14,000 riders as salaried employees by June 2025. Separately, Glovo was also fined €106 million by the European Commission in June 2025 for participating in a 'no-poach' agreement with Delivery Hero before the takeover.
The actions by Spanish authorities demonstrate strong enforcement of national labour laws regarding platform worker misclassification. Glovo faces significant financial penalties and is being compelled to fundamentally change its operational model in Spain, shifting from a self-employed rider model to one based on direct employment.
Glovo (the Spanish unit of Delivery Hero) has announced that it will hire riders as full-time employees. This shift is intended to mitigate ongoing legal uncertainties and regulatory penalties previously …
Between 2022 and 2025, the European Commission launched and concluded a major antitrust investigation into food delivery firms Delivery Hero and Glovo. The inquiry focused on suspected cartel behaviour across …
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.
