The adoption of the
Platform Work Directive 2024/2831 marks the end of a seven-year-long, tense
political debate on the regulation of platform-mediated work in the EU. The
Directive presents a complex piece of legislation, uniquely combining digital
and social regulation. This article critically traces the evolution of its
drafting process and contextualizes it against the architecture of the EU
acquis. It offers an indepth analysis of the Directive’s provisions, focusing
in particular on the presumption of employment and workers’ digital rights
vis-à-vis automated systems, while also discussing transparency of platform
work and its collective dimension. It is argued that, despite its
sector-specificity, the Directive bears salient implications for EU law,
especially for the regulation of the ever-spreading algorithmic management in
work contexts, and the improvement of the working conditions in atypical work
arrangements. The assessment unveils several open questions about the future of
the regulation of work in the digital age.