The Regulation of Online Platforms in the European Union

Abstract

In the global digital transformation, one of the main objectives of the European Union is still to preserve its values, which can be achieved by legal regulation. The regulation of digital transformation effects and involves the online platforms, which do not have a clear and standard definition in EU law due to the gradual and specific evolution of EU regulations. Besides the competition law and consumer protection aspects of online platforms, a new field of law under the name of European platform law has emerged, which reduces the autonomy of online platforms regarding their decision-making. Finding an effective way and method to regulate online platforms also involved their qualification as information society services, and made it necessary to set the boundaries of hosting service provider liability and to redefine the employment relationship. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the steps and key issues in the regulation of online platforms in the EU by presenting the most relevant regulations, directives, proposals and case law.