Warnings over precarious work and lack of social protection on digital platforms

The growth of the platform economy has created new income opportunities around the world, but it also poses challenges related to social security, income and the labor rights of millions of workers.

Since the 113th International Labour Conference in June 2025, debates on the growth of platforms and their place in the labor market have been increasing. These companies have now opened up new markets on a global scale, new jobs and income opportunities; meanwhile, governments are adopting measures to regulate work on digital platforms.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) notes that among the most important challenges posed by digital platforms are guaranteeing adequate income, social security, occupational safety and health, and other protections for workers, while ensuring fundamental principles and rights at work.

A report by Farnoud Ghasemi and other authors analyzes the role of platforms in the labor market and assesses the question of the minimum wage and how it works, taking the city of Amsterdam as an example. Ghasemi explains that digital platforms operate as two-sided markets that connect independent workers with consumers, transforming sectors ranging from mobility, with companies such as Uber, Lyft, Didi and Cabify; delivery, such as Just Eat, Rappi, Pedidos Ya and iFood; to data annotation for artificial intelligence, such as Remotasks or Scale AI.

These authors’ analysis explains how these companies leverage network effects to expand rapidly, but tend to classify their workers as «independent contractors» to avoid legal and tax obligations.

Precarious work and the «flexibility paradox»

A study by Lauren Benjamin Mushro describes the «flexibility paradox». This means that while platforms promote autonomy, workers remain tied to their devices waiting for tasks that never come, sinking further into precarity.

It also notes that precarity is worsened by political and economic instability in countries such as Venezuela, where the minimum wage is extremely low and workers on the platforms can earn less than 2 dollars per hour.

On this point, Human Rights Watch states that because they are considered non-employees, these workers are also excluded from social security systems, leaving them unprotected in the event of workplace accidents, illness or unemployment.

Along these lines, Lena Simet of Human Rights Watch warned that “digital labor platforms have created a business model that allows employers to evade their responsibilities while keeping workers under strict algorithmic control, driven by opaque and unpredictable decisions.”

Mushro explains that companies often use algorithmic systems that affect working conditions, such as work allocation, income reduction, other forms of discipline and the dismissal of workers. These systems are often opaque, error-prone and discriminatory, and workers have few means to challenge automated decisions.

Challenges and future prospects

The analyses agree that the growth of work mediated by digital platforms opens several fronts for debate in the coming years. One of them is income regulation. Some public policies seek to establish minimum wages to protect drivers and delivery workers. However, specialists warn that companies may respond by restricting access to the apps or limiting the availability of tasks, a strategy that could reduce work opportunities for those who depend on the platforms.

At the same time, this debate has also moved to the international level. During the 113th International Labour Conference, an agreement was reached to move forward with a binding convention aimed at regulating platform work globally. This initiative seeks to address issues such as algorithmic transparency, social security and the portability of rights across different digital jobs.

Another challenge highlighted by the reports is the governance gap in this sector. Many platform companies are headquartered in countries of the Global North, while a large share of workers are in economies of the Global South. According to analysts, this distance facilitates the evasion of national regulations and exposes workers to more precarious working conditions.

In this context, various international organizations maintain that compiling comparative information on laws and public policies could facilitate social dialogue and the design of evidence-based regulations. These studies also analyze how different jurisdictions are addressing issues such as the employment classification of workers, automated task allocation systems, working time, personal data protection, occupational safety and contract termination mechanisms in digital platform work.  

Guillermo Whpei

President of Fundación para la Democracia