Gig work & platform work

What is platform work?

Platform work is work organised through a digital platform. How the platform affects price, assignments and access to work in app taxi.

Taxiunionen · Updated 2026-08-23

In short

Platform work is work organised through a digital platform, for example an app that distributes taxi rides or food deliveries.

But a platform can do considerably more than connect the customer with the person doing the work.

It can affect price, pay, which assignments are shown and access to the platform itself.

What does this mean for you?

Drivers: The key question is not only who owns the car or the company. You also have to look at who actually directs the work.
Operators: An operator can carry the employer responsibility while central parts of the work are controlled by a platform the operator does not govern.
Customers: The price and who carries out the ride are often set by the platform's systems, not by the driver you meet.

The fact that someone runs their own business does not automatically remove every question about the platform's responsibility.

The EU Platform Work Directive and the Swedish inquiry look at who in practice directs and controls the work.

What does the word mean?

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.
Intermediary: A middle party. In app taxi there can be an operator between the digital platform and the driver.
Algorithmic management: Digital systems used to monitor, organise or take decisions about people's work, without a human manager giving the instruction directly.

Work organised through a digital platform, where the platform often affects price, assignments and access to the work.

No. Employment status depends on the circumstances of each case, including who actually directs and controls the work.