Gig work & platform work
Algorithmic management
Algorithmic management means digital systems monitor, allocate and decide about work. What that can look like in app taxi and why it is being regulated.
Taxiunionen · Updated 2026-08-25
In short
Algorithmic management means digital systems are used to monitor, organise or take decisions about people's work.
In platform work, such systems can shape the working day without a human manager giving the instruction directly.
Examples in app taxi
It can involve systems that affect which rides are shown, how work is allocated, how performance is measured, ratings or other rankings, access to the platform, and decisions on restriction or deactivation.
How an individual company's system is built is rarely public. We therefore describe the types of decisions that can be automated, not which algorithm a specific platform uses.
Why is this being regulated?
The Platform Work Directive contains rules on automated monitoring and decision-making systems.
The aim includes greater transparency and better protection for people whose work is affected by automated systems.
A concrete case: Uber in the Netherlands
On 21 August 2026 the Dutch data protection authority Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP) announced a fine of nearly 825 million euros against Uber. The decision concerns breaches linked to automated systems that blocked or deactivated drivers.
Uber disputes the decision and has stated that it intends to appeal. The matter is therefore not finally settled, and we describe it as an ongoing case.
The decision was taken in the Netherlands and does not determine how Swedish law is applied. It is still relevant here, because it concerns the same kind of automated decisions that can affect a driver's access to work.
The questions it raises — insight into how decisions are made, the right to human review and the possibility to object — recur in the Platform Work Directive and in Taxiunionen's consultation response on SOU 2026:3.
What does the word mean?
- Algorithmic management
- Digital systems used to monitor, organise or take decisions about people's work, without a human manager giving the instruction directly.
- Directive (EU)
- An EU rule stating the result member states must achieve. Each country decides for itself how to implement it in national law.
- Employment status
- Whether a person counts as an employee or as self-employed. The status decides which rules and which protections apply.
Common questions
What is algorithmic management?
Digital systems monitoring, organising or deciding about work, for example allocating rides or deactivating an account.
Taxiunionen's view
When a platform can affect which rides are offered, how pay is set and whether an account stays active, those systems exercise real power over working conditions.
Transparency, human review and the ability to appeal automated decisions are therefore central questions for Taxiunionen.
This is the association's position, not the law as it stands.
Further reading & original sources
EU · 23 October 2024
Public inquiry (SOU) · January 2026
Consultation response · 29 March 2026
Authority · 21 August 2026
Media article · 21 August 2026