AIRBNB AND UBER: LEGAL PLATFORM BUT ILLEGAL NETWORKED BUSINESS

• Main Author: Saša Zupan Korže
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: CEOs Ltd. 2018-05-01
• Series: Innovative Issues and Approaches in Social Sciences
• Subjects: networked business; P2P platforms; Airbnb; Uber; sharing economy; regulation
• Online Access: http://www.iiass.com/pdf/IIASS-2018-no2-art1.pdf

Airbnb’s and Uber's popularity and scope of their networked business has significantly grown in the last few years. Both companies are engaged in sectors, which are regulated. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the legal issues related to Airbnb networked hospitality business and to Uber's networked transport business, with focus on EU member states solutions and Slovenian approach. The research was carried out from July 2017 to March 2018. We used the method of content analysis of secondary sources, methods of compilation and comparisons, analyses of qualitative data, collected in semi-structures interviews and explanatory case studies. The results show that Airbnb and Uber have become victims of their own success. The hospitality and transport business that participants perform using Airbnb or Uber platform do not comply with sectorial regulation of majority of EU member states. European Commission suggested some guidelines to solve the issues related with networked businesses. Moreover, European Court of Justice pointed out the exact solution on Uber's case. The research opens a debate on legal issues related to new technology-based business models and questions the rationale that stand behind legal solutions.