The Long and Winding Road: Policy Frictions and the Governance of Ride‐Hailing Platforms in Latin America

ABSTRACT The rise of ride‐hailing platforms has profoundly transformed urban mobility in Latin America over the past decade. Transportation Network Companies such as Uber, DiDi, Cabify, InDrive, and others operating in the region have affected transportation patterns and intensified debates around labor relations, algorithmic management, regulatory challenges, and urban sustainability. This article examines the trajectories of platform regulation in Chile, Colombia, and Costa Rica through the lens of platform‐policy frictions, highlighting the tensions and negotiations between the aspirations of platform capitalism and the particularities of local environments. More than 10 years after Transportation Network Companies arrived in the region, Chile has enacted a regulatory framework, whereas Colombia and Costa Rica continue to grapple with legislative inertia and fragmented policy responses. The study introduces the concept of the “De Facto Deregulation Trap” to explain how institutional fragmentation, political stalemate, and stakeholder strategies perpetuate indefinite regulatory uncertainty. The research highlights how regulatory outcomes on platform regulation depend on political negotiations, institutional capacities, and stakeholder power dynamics. The findings contribute to the literature on platform governance by demonstrating how frictions operate as barriers to regulation and arenas for contestation and adaptation in the Global South, offering valuable lessons for global tech policy and digital change.