Online platform work (also known as online gig work, online freelancing, and crowd work) refers to work conducted remotely via digital platforms, typically consisting of multiple short-term projects or tasks, each remunerated separately. It is a new form of non-standard work that presents opportunities but also new challenges, such as how to organise taxation and social insurance contributions. Platform workers are frequently classified as self-employed for tax purposes, and their clients are often located in multiple different countries. This complicates tax compliance for both the workers and tax agencies. Some EU countries have launched initiatives to obtain data on platform workers’ earnings directly from the platform companies. This project aims to assess the opportunities and challenges of a hypothetical EU-level Digital Single Window for the voluntary automated reporting and EU-wide sharing of earnings data from web-based platform work.
For background reading please see the OII blogpost A New Social Social Contract: Expert Report on Digitalization of Labour Markets, and the high-level expert group report of the European Commission titled The Impact of the Digital Transformation on EU Markets.
Professor of Economic Sociology and Digital Social Research
Project role: Principle Investigator
Vili Lehdonvirta is an expert on the politics and economics of digital platforms. His current research focuses on the geopolitics and geoeconomics of digital infrastructures.
Faculty of Law, University of Oxford
Project role: Co-Investigator
Faculty of Law, University of Oxford
Project role: Co-Investigator
