ILO adopts treaty to regulate jobs in the digital economy

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has formally adopted Convention No. 193 concerning Decent Work in the Platform Economy.

The treaty establishes the first-ever binding international legal framework explicitly designed to protect the rights of millions of gig economy workers worldwide, from ride-hailing drivers and couriers to online content moderators and data labellers.

The new convention targets systemic vulnerabilities, and sets strict global baselines for fair compensation, algorithmic transparency, and employment classification, fundamentally reshaping the future of digital work.

For over a decade, digital labour platforms have capitalised on corporate flexibility, frequently placing workers outside traditional employer-employee relationships.

This regulatory vacuum has left vast workforces vulnerable to sudden account deactivations, opaque pay cuts, and a total lack of social safety nets.

Convention No. 193 directly confronts these loopholes by mandating that worker classification must reflect the actual operational reality of how the work is performed and paid, rather than the contractual labels devised by tech companies.

Crucially, the treaty ensures that fundamental rights, including occupational safety, health protections, freedom of association, and collective bargaining, apply to all platform workers universally, completely independent of their formal employment status.

For the first time in international law, technology platforms will be legally required to pull back the curtain on the automated systems that monitor, evaluate, and dictate the livelihoods of their workforces.

The convention institutes a strict “human-in-the-loop” requirement.

Workers will now possess an explicit right to request detailed written explanations and human reviews for any significant automated decisions that adversely affect them, specifically targeting arbitrary wage deductions, account suspensions, or permanent deactivations.

Civil society and international monitors have lauded this specific pivot.

Speaking on the immediate necessity of the treaty’s digital governance protections, Lena Simet, Senior Economic Justice adviser at Human Rights Watch, stated:

“The adoption of this treaty is a turning point for millions of platform workers who are denied labour protections. This Convention recognises the need for transparency, accountability, and rights over personal data to reset the rules of the game. Governments and employers can now turn to improving their rules, regulations and practices to put an end to algorithmic abuse at work.”

Because ILO conventions are not self-executing, the global impact of Convention No. 193 now hinges entirely on individual member states ratifying the treaty and passing matching domestic legislation. For rapidly expanding digital economies in the Global South, the treaty offers a blueprint to balance technological expansion with basic human dignity.

Employment reality: This mandates that there is a correct worker classification based on substance and actual performance, not corporate contractor labels.

Algorithmic rights: Establishes a mandatory right to human review and written explanations for automated suspensions or deactivations.

Financial security: Requires full, timely payments, fair expense reimbursements, and access to statutory social security schemes.

Universal baselines: Guarantees collective bargaining, occupational accident prevention, and data privacy to all workers, regardless of contractor status.

As digital platforms continue to borderlessly scale, the passage of Convention No. 193 signals a clear message from the international community that innovation can no longer be used as an excuse to bypass human rights.

The focus now shifts from the legislative floors of Geneva to national parliaments, where governments must choose whether to solidify these protections into domestic law.