This article examines the main public interests at stake with the rise of online platforms in the sharing economy and the gig economy. We do so by analyzing platforms in five sectors in the Netherlands: domestic cleaning (Helpling), taxi rides (UberPop), home restaurants (AirDnD), home sharing (Airbnb), and car sharing (SnappCar). The most salient public interests are a level playing field between platforms and industry incumbents, tax compliance, consumer protection, labor protection, and privacy protection. We develop four policy options (enforce, new regulation, deregulation, and toleration), and discuss the rationales for each option in safeguarding each public interest. We further stress that arguments supporting a particular policy option should take into account the sectoral context. We finally highlight the tension between the subsidiarity principle, which would call for local regulations as platforms mostly concern local transactions and innovation policies that aim to support innovation and a single digital market.

中文翻译：

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维护平台经济中的公共利益

本文探讨了共享经济和零工经济中在线平台的兴起所面临的主要公共利益。为此，我们分析了荷兰五个行业的平台：家庭清洁（Helpling），出租车（UberPop），家庭餐馆（AirDnD），家庭共享（Airbnb）和汽车共享（SnappCar）。最突出的公共利益是平台与行业在业者，税收合规，消费者保护，劳动保护和隐私保护之间的公平竞争环境。我们制定了四种政策选择（强制执行，新法规，放松管制和宽容），并讨论了每种选择在维护每个公共利益方面的理由。我们进一步强调，支持特定政策选择的论点应考虑部门背景。