EU Directive 2024/2831 on improving working conditions in platform work

EU Directive 2024/2831 was adopted in October 2024 and is the first EU-wide framework designed to regulate what’s known as the "gig economy" or “platform work”. Its primary goal is to ensure that people working through digital platforms (like drivers, delivery riders, freelancers, or us, music curators) have their legal employment status correctly defined and are protected against opaque algorithmic management, so platforms’ business models are not based in precariousness and the lack of social rights that put all the risks and responsibilities in platform workers have. All EU countries must transpose it into national law before 2nd December 2026. Link to the Directive's official source in your preferred language.

Here you have a summary of the main premises and the points we found more relevant.

The Legal Presumption of Employment

The Directive introduces a "rebuttable presumption." This means that if a curator's relationship with a platform shows signs of direction and control, they are legally presumed to be an employee rather than a freelancer.

Shift of Burden: It is no longer the worker who has to prove they are an employee, the platform will be the one who must prove they are not.
Indicators of Control: These include the platform determining the price, setting upper limits on pay, supervising performance through electronic means, or restricting the worker's freedom to organize their own work.

How it affects music curators: If a platform controls your pricing, has algorithms in place to control your work or work methods, restricts your schedule imposing a specific expiration time, you are legally presumed to be an employee. Therefore, platforms will have to either give you the freedom to set your own rates and terms or provide you with the social protections of an employee (pensions, leave, stability, etc).

Algorithmic Management & Human Oversight

The laws will regulate how AI and algorithms manage people. Existing laws and regulations in some EU countries already grant some of those rights, but they will get more strict with the transposition of the directive.

Transparency: Platforms will have to inform curators how algorithms and automated systems assign tasks, suggest payouts, rank their profiles or, for example, determine a "Top Curator" status. So curators will be able to know why one curator gets 50 songs and another gets 5.
Right to interact with a human: Significant decisions, such as suspending a profile or account, terminating a contract, or denying a payout, cannot be made by an algorithm alone. A human must review and be accountable for these decisions and you have the right to a written explanation and a clear path to appeal.

Enhanced Data Privacy:

The Directive will grant "digital rights" that go beyond the GDPR.

Prohibited Data: Platforms cannot process data on a curator’s emotional state, private conversations, or biometric data.
Off-duty Privacy: Platforms are forbidden from collecting any data while the curator is not actively performing work.

There are platforms (especially in the sector of drivers and delivery riders) with algorithms in place that monitor and record data about workers’ behaviour at all times to predict which ones might be willing to accept a job for a lower price, and therefore recommend them more often to customers to maximize the platform's split.

Collective Rights under the Directive:

The Directive assumes that an individual curator has zero power against a global platform, so it creates specific collective muscles to help associations level the playing field.

Secure Digital Communication Channels: The Directive recognizes that platforms often keep workers isolated, so they will be legally required to provide a private digital space (on their website or app) where curators can communicate with each other securely. Platforms are strictly forbidden from accessing or monitoring these communications and curators will be able to demand a secure curator lounge or forum within the platform to organize themselves without fear of repercussions.

The Right to Expert Assistance : Algorithms are complex, so when a platform is required to explain its automated systems to representatives, they will have the right to be assisted by an expert of its choice. For example, a technical auditor or a lawyer to scrutinize those algorithms and the platform will be obligated to provide them with the necessary data.

Mandatory Consultation on Changes: Platforms won't be able to change the rules overnight unilaterally. They'll have to inform and consult worker representatives before introducing substantial changes to automated monitoring or decision-making systems (for example, changing the requirements to become a "Top Curator", the minimum number of words or the minimum listening time per song).

Collective Bargaining for the "Self-Employed": The EU clarifies that self-employed workers have the right to associate and negotiate collectively without violating "Competition Law" (Antitrust). So they will be able to negotiate a Collective Framework Agreement for their members, for example setting a minimum rate per song.

Protection for Association Leaders: Platforms are prohibited from treating representatives unfavorably (suspension, banning, or reducing song flow) because they are exercising their collective rights. If an admin or board member of your union/association is suddenly "de-ranked" by the platform's algorithm, the burden of proof shifts to the platform to prove it wasn't an act of retaliation for their work as representatives.

Why It Is Relevant for Curators

For curators based in Europe, this Directive and the national laws it will transpose into, will provide a safety net against platform surveillance, control, opacity and arbitrariness. So platforms will have to choose between providing the social protections of an employee or handing over the control over our working conditions, so we can set our own prices and the other characteristics of our work.

It does not matter where the company is headquartered (USA, UK, EU or Mars). If the work is performed in the EU, the platform must comply with EU labor laws

Social Protection: If reclassified as employees, curators gain access to paid leave, unemployment benefits, and pension contributions.
More control over our work: If not reclassified as employees, we gain control over our income and the organization of our work.
Collective Bargaining: It strengthens the right of curators to organize as an association or union to negotiate better conditions.

Why is it also relevant for curators outside the EU:

Even if you are not based in the EU, this Directive is highly relevant for different reasons.

Platform HQ: If the platform is headquartered in the EU (like Groover, which is French), they are often forced to align their global operations with EU standards for technical and administrative simplicity.
Global Precedent: Much like the GDPR changed privacy laws globally, this Directive provides a reference for curators in other parts of the world to demand similar transparency from platforms.
Market Standard: As EU curators gain more rights, platforms may find it harder to justify lower standards of transparency or opaque algorithms for their non-EU workers.
Indirect access: Workers will be able to contact their EU peers to get access to the same information.

Timeline

October 2024: Formal adoption of the Directive.
2025–2026: EU Member States (like France, Spain, Belgium, Germany) governments, unions and business associations are negotiating their own national laws to implement these rules.
December 2, 2026: The Directive must be fully active across all EU countries.

Actors involved in current negotiations:

We have made a quick collection of some actors who already engaged in these negotiations in the EU countries with the most presence in submission platforms.

At the same time, while we wait for the new national laws that will implement the EU Directive, it's also important to know that many EU countries already have laws in place that cover some of the same rights.

If you want to add more detail about your country or if you miss some information feel free to reach out.

Belgium

Government entity: Federal Ministry of Economy and Employment
Unions: FGTB/ABVV and CSC/ACV (very active in court cases against Deliveroo).
Business associations: Federgon and VBO/FEB.
Current laws and regulations protecting us: Belgium's Labour Deal, which introduced a specific framework for platform work as part of its 2022 reform.

Netherlands

Government entity: Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment
Unions: FNV (leading the legal battles against Uber) and CNV
Business associations: AWVN and VNO-NCW.
Current laws and regulations protecting us: Wet DBA.

Germany

Government entity: Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
Unions: ver.di and DGB (Confederation of Unions).
Business associations: Bitkom (Digital Association) and the BDA (Confederation of German Employers).
Current laws and regulations protecting us: Labour Code (BGB) and Social Security Code (SGB IV).

Spain

Government entity: Ministry of Labour
Unions: CCOO and UGT.
Business associations: CEOE and Adigital (representing platforms like Uber, Glovo).
Current laws and regulations protecting us: Spain pioneered with the “Rider Law” (Ley 12/2021) and modified their “Estatuto de los Trabajadores” to force companies to inform workers’ representatives about the algorithms or AI systems that affect working conditions and to correctly define the nature of the working relationship.

France

Government entity: Ministry of Labour & ARPE (Autorité des relations sociales des plateformes d'emploi).
Unions: CGT, CFDT, and specialized unions for independent workers like Union-Indépendants.
Business associations: API (Association of Internet Platforms) and FFPR.
Current laws and regulations protecting us: France's Loi pour une République Numérique (2016), their Labour Code, GDPR and Consumer Code grant transparency on algorithms and stored data and rankings from curators. France is unique because it created a specific body, ARPE, to act as a mediator between the platforms and the self-employed and bypass traditional bureaucracy for this sector.

WHAT CAN WE DO UNTIL DECEMBER 2, 2026

Get familiar with the Directive and organize ourselves. Tell about the UCA to any curator you know and get in touch with your local union to see if they have any platform work specialist or if they can recommend you another organization that may have taken the lead in that field in your country and might be already in discussions with the government to negotiate the transposition of the EU directive into a law. They will offer guidance, orientation and also offer the possibility to subscribe to a newsletter to get updates on the subject.

The admin team of the association is also in touch with union representatives to learn about the different actions available to us and what strategy might be the most effective to improve our working conditions collectively before and after those new laws get implemented.

Again, we leave you the link to check out the EU directive yourself in your preferred language.

This Directive is expected to be game-changing for our ecosystem and will provide the legal base to demand transparency, control over our working conditions and fair and human-verified rules.

United Curators Association

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