Platform Economy

In the 21st century, as digitalization has accelerated, economic structures have entered a profound transformation process. One of the most striking dimensions of this shift is the proliferation of platform-based economic systems. This new model, known as the platform economy, redefines traditional production-consumption relationships while directly influencing labor markets, cultural production, and social interactions. With the widespread adoption of the internet, advancements in mobile devices, increased data processing capacity, and the maturation of algorithmic decision systems, platforms have moved beyond being mere providers of products or services; they have become the primary regulatory actors in production, consumption, and labor.

Definition and Core Characteristics of the Platform Economy

The platform economy is an economic model in which numerous actors converge through digital infrastructure, primarily interacting via digital interfaces, and where the exchange of products, services, or information is organized through intermediation. In this system, platforms bring together users, producers, and consumers within a single digital ecosystem, offering not direct production but rather an infrastructure for interaction. This enables platforms to position themselves, often, as mere “intermediaries.”

One of the most prominent features of these structures is their creation of multi-sided markets. Platforms directly connect supply and demand sides while simultaneously shaping the behavior of both parties through data-driven analytics. As the number of users increases, the functionality and economic value of the platform also rise. This effect is known as the “network effect.” As the platform’s user base grows, its capacity to attract additional users and retain existing ones strengthens.

Data-driven computational power is the most critical asset of these platforms. Data collected from user interactions is processed through algorithms to deliver personalized services or product recommendations. Thus, platforms acquire not only an intermediary role but also a directive one. This situation generates a form of “algorithmic authority” within the digital environment.

Historical Context and Transformation

The roots of the platform economy extend back to the 1990s, when the internet began to be used for commercial purposes. However, its true institutionalization accelerated in the 2000s with the widespread adoption of social media, e-commerce, and mobile applications. Digital environments, initially limited to functions such as information sharing or network building, gradually evolved into platforms for economic transactions.

Initially developed under the leadership of technology companies, this model later expanded into numerous sectors, from transportation and accommodation to media and food delivery. Today, companies such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, and Spotify are not only sector leaders but also key architects of the economic system. These firms determine the economic activities of thousands of businesses and millions of individuals through their platforms.

Comparing traditional production models with the platform economy has yielded significant insights. During the classical industrial era, production relied on physical space and fixed capital, whereas the platform economy is based on mobility, flexibility, and digital infrastructure. This shift has established an economic order that prioritizes access over ownership of production means.

Labor Relations and New Employment Forms

One of the areas most affected by the platform economy is the labor market. In this system, labor is organized in flexible, short-term, and project-based forms outside traditional employment contracts and labor arrangements. In this model, known as the “gig economy,” workers are classified not as employees but as independent service providers. This has led to the emergence of a labor class excluded from social security systems, lacking job security, and deprived of pension rights.

This model is particularly widespread in transportation and delivery sectors. Individuals working in courier services, food, and grocery deliveries are often required to establish their own sole proprietorships and operate under the rhetoric of being “their own boss.” In this model, workers use their own vehicles, bear maintenance costs, and assume responsibility for insurance and tax obligations. Yet this independence often loses meaning in the face of algorithmic control and wage policies imposed by platforms.

Work hours, payment systems based on per-delivery rates, and performance-based incentive schemes concentrate workload on individuals, increasing flexibility while reducing security. Workers in this structure also have limited access to union rights. Since the legal employer-employee relationship is not recognized, collective bargaining and unionization opportunities are effectively eliminated.

Cultural Production and Platformization

Another significant area impacted by the platform economy is cultural production. Creative sectors such as music, cinema, design, and visual arts have become dependent on algorithmic curation and distribution models defined by platforms. While digital platforms offer independent artists new opportunities for visibility, access, and income generation, they also create serious structural problems.

Algorithmic content recommendations shape platform users’ preferences, prompting artists to produce content that conforms to the demands of these algorithms in order to gain visibility. This weakens the originality of the creative process and standardizes artistic production. Moreover, revenues generated through platforms typically favor artists affiliated with major production companies, leaving independent creators with significantly limited returns.

In this environment, artists must enhance their digital skills, develop social media strategies, and directly build their own audiences. Thus, artistic production has ceased to be merely an aesthetic or cultural activity; it has transformed into a multifaceted process requiring digital strategy, algorithmic awareness, and audience engagement.

Platform Economy Experience in Türkiye

In Türkiye, the platform economy has rapidly expanded, particularly in distribution, transportation, e-commerce, and digital media. In a country where local and global platforms operate simultaneously, the system’s impact is growing in terms of both user numbers and labor force. However, this growth has sometimes brought accompanying social challenges.

The “merchant courier” employment model in the distribution sector is one of the most typical examples of the platform economy. Couriers working under this model provide services to specific companies but are not classified as company employees. Workers in this structure typically receive payment per delivery rather than a fixed salary and are responsible for all their own expenses. While this model offers flexible working conditions, it also creates significant insecurity.

Couriers’ income levels vary according to working hours, delivery volume, and platform bonus policies. However, increasing workloads and declining wage policies over time have generated dissatisfaction among workers, leading to various collective actions. These actions provide important insights into how organizing, solidarity, and collective consciousness are being reconfigured within the platform economy.

Similarly, a process of platformization is occurring in the music industry. Independent artists publish their music through digital platforms and attempt to generate income based on streaming numbers and social media interactions. However, the visibility structure determined by algorithms creates significant inequality for artists not affiliated with major record labels.

Critiques and Future Perspectives

Despite the flexibility, accessibility, and digitalization advantages it brings, the platform economy has faced substantial criticism. The most debated issues include the monopolization of economic power by platforms, the unregulated commercial use of user data, the precarization of labor, and the standardization of cultural production.

Platforms often operate independently of market regulations and remain outside regulatory frameworks. This creates problems both in terms of competition and in relation to consumer and worker rights. It also leads to severe imbalances in income distribution. Most platforms allocate the majority of revenues to themselves, leaving only a limited share for creative producers or service providers.

To achieve a fairer, more transparent, and inclusive structure in the future, the platform economy requires various regulatory measures and policy interventions. Topics such as expanding unionization rights, making algorithmic oversight transparent, restricting data usage, and ensuring fair distribution of platform revenues have come to the forefront of policy agendas.

The platform economy represents one of the most fundamental structural transformations arising from the digital transition of the 21st century. This economic model does not merely alter production and consumption relationships; it transforms the organization of labor, cultural production, and social interactions. While offering new opportunities, it also brings serious inequalities, insecurities, and governance challenges.

The Turkish example demonstrates how deeply the effects of the platform economy have permeated both cultural and economic levels, and what kinds of struggle spaces these structures create for workers and producers. In this context, the platform economy must be understood not merely as a technical structure but as an economic regime in which social relations are being reconstituted.