PLATFORM REGULATION AS BONA FIDES: FROM ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY TO RULE

The platform economy is a global phenomenon with a huge social and financial outcome comparable to the Industrial Revolution. Currently, no nation-state worldwide possesses an established and harmonized regulatory practice for digital platforms. This circumstance presents a distinct challenge for public governance, particularly concerning the allocative function and the ability to control externalities for the consumer. The risk of such externalities is significant, given the absence of unified, foundational regulatory principles for entities shaping the platform economy. Furthermore, a comprehensive description of the fragmented and existing regulations has not yet been proposed. In this regard, this study offers an original conceptualization of digital platform regulation types, providing a systematic reflection of the regulatory imbalance issue in both domestic and international practices. This study also conducts qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), the results of which indicate that current approaches to regulating the platform economy do not provide optimal conditions for its balanced development. Consequently, further research and a reconsideration of regulatory strategies are warranted. Based on this analysis we posit that a unified “gold standard” for platform economy regulation is achievable if it would be based on a shared conceptual framework (glossary), classifications, and established approaches to information exchange conducted by platforms, while the substantive aspects of regulation should be implemented as needed through supplementary legislation.