Why Internet Platforms Don't Need Special Regulation

[Commentary] From city halls around the country to Washington (DC) and other world capitals, lawmakers and regulators lately have come under intense pressure to regulate upstart Internet market platforms such as Uber, Airbnb, UpCounsel, and Heal, as they rapidly transform entire sectors of the economy by providing simple and elegant new ways for buyers and sellers to connect and do business online. But if lawmakers take time to carefully sort through the facts, they will find that existing statutes give regulators all the power they need to oversee the new generation of companies powering the so-called "gig economy" -- and piling on would do more harm than good.

The first thing to understand about these new Internet platforms is that they create enormous value for buyers and sellers of all sorts. Critics variously contend the newcomers exercise monopoly powers, take undue liberties with consumers' data, and take advantage of workers by making them independent contractors rather than employees. But to the extent any of this is true (and much of it isn't), the circumstances have little to do with the fact that the companies in question are Internet market platforms, so singling them out would be unjustified and unwise as a policy matter. Existing laws also give regulators power to protect workers on Internet market platforms from obvious problems such as nonpayment, dangerous work conditions, discrimination, or abusive practices. The last thing policymakers should do is stand in the way or impose regulatory burdens that would make the new players operate more like the old ones.

[Robert Atkinson is the president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation]