Working across Borders, Protected Nowhere Applicable Law for Online Platform Work, with Lessons for Kazakhstan

Online platform work lets Kazakh residents serve foreign platforms that fix the governing law. ILO Convention No. 193 of 2026 only “preferably” applies the law of the place of performance. Kazakh law lacks a conflict rule for work and protection against jurisdiction clauses in platform terms. Literature debates classification but not which legal order decides it. The study asks which law and court protect such workers and what Kazakhstan should adopt. Doctrinal analysis combines a literature review, comparison of six legal orders, a US counter-case and twelve episodes. Platform terms allocate law and forum at platform and task layers before any dispute. Protective systems converge on the habitual place of work but diverge on reaching foreign platforms. Kazakh procedural, arbitration and platform law contain tools capable of extension. The study proposes an anchor–notify–cooperate standard of five elements covering law, forum, representation, social payments and cooperation. Protection should follow the screen, not the server.