Techlash
The platform economy is a name used for certain types of economic and social activities facilitated by platforms, typical such activities being online sales or technology frameworks. Platform businesses control an increasing share of the world's economy and sometimes disrupt traditional businesses.
The most common type of platform economy centres around transaction platforms, also known as digital matchmakers, which include Amazon, Airbnb, Uber, and Baidu. A second type of involves innovation platforms, which provide common technology frameworks upon which others can build, such as Microsoft's platforms used by many independent developers. In 2013, platform expert Marshall Van Alstyne observed that three of the top five companies in the world used the platform business model.
The rise of platforms has been met with a mixed response from commentators. Many have been enthusiastic, arguing that platforms can improve productivity, reduce costs, reduce inefficiencies in existing markets, help create entirely new markets, provide flexibility and accessibility for workers, and be especially helpful for less developed countries. Arguments against platforms include that they may worsen technological unemployment, that they contribute to the replacement of traditional jobs with precarious forms of employment that have much less labour protection, that they can worsen declining tax revenues, and that excessive use of platforms can be psychologically damaging and corrosive to communities. Since the early 2010s, the platform economy has been the subject of many reviews by academic groups and NGOs, by national governments, and by transnational organisations like the EU. Early reviews were generally against the imposition of heavy regulation for the platform economy. Since 2016, and especially in 2017, some jurisdictions began to take a more interventionist approach.
Platform workers often work irregular and long hours, putting them at risk of cardiovascular diseases.
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