The next speaker at the Weizenbaum Conference is Felipe Mano, whose focus is on the regulation of digital platform work in the context of the UN’s Agenda 2030. The Agenda provides ethical guidelines for digital platform work; such work might be addressed by formal legal regulation, direct government intervention, soft regulation through agreements between public and private entities, and transnational regulation, and the focus here is on legal regulation.
Felipe’s study explored digital platform work by examining types of work platforms, their materialities, actors and stakeholders, and business models; the latter can be analysed by exploring their financialisation frameworks, data extraction and monetisation practices, and approaches to worker relations. These aspects are governed by diverse laws in countries around the world, which variously address all or only some of these elements effectively. These laws may also address only certain aspects of the platform economy – e.g. only ride-hailing platforms rather than gig work in general.
Legal instruments alone are insufficient for pursuing the ethical guidelines identified in Agenda 2030, therefore; they must be combined with other forms of regulation that involve intersectoral efforts and partnerships, involving the state, civil society, worker organisations, and other groups.
