Uber Spain and the “Identity Crisis” of Online Platforms

Most platforms present themselves as mere passive facilitators rather than as sellers or suppliers. This is, for instance, the case of Uber and Airbnb, which repeatedly point out in their terms and conditions that they act as mere intermediaries between the service provider and the recipient. Nevertheless, such platforms are often much more than mere facilitators between the supplier and the user of goods, digital content or services, as many of them determine the terms and conditions, the price, manage the payment service, often taking a percentage as a processing fee. Other platforms play an even more active role, such as platforms dealing with 3D printing. Moving from the Uber Spain case and in light of the EU Commission's European Agenda for the collaborative economy, the contribution analyses under which conditions online platforms should be (still) qualified as providers of information society services. Furthermore, the paper analyses the interplay between the e-commerce directive and the unfair commercial practices directive in the field of online platforms and pleads for a refit of the E-Commerce directive.