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The world is being quietly rearranged by people who write very long documents.

World Bank · February 28, 2026
The title they went with Regulating Platform-based Work in Low and Middle-income Countries : Towards a Context-Appropriate Approach Noisy translates that to

World Bank tells poor countries how to regulate Uber and DoorDash — without copying Europe's rulebook

What happened
Regulators in low and middle-income countries are now expected to tighten rules for gig economy workers. This means platforms will likely face new requirements for worker classification and benefits.
Why it matters
For years, the assumption was that gig work offered flexible opportunities in developing economies, with minimal regulation. This paper argues for a more structured approach, suggesting that governments should adapt existing labor laws to these new work arrangements. This shift could mean platforms have to provide more benefits or face stricter oversight, potentially changing the cost structure of gig work in these regions.
The signal
Dozens of governments in Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia are watching this. If the World Bank framework gets traction, expect it to become the default reference point in national labor reform debates over the next 12-18 months — the way ILO conventions became the reference point for minimum wage floors. Watch for early adopters in East Africa and Southeast Asia, where ride-hailing penetration is high and labor laws are already being stress-tested by platforms. The risk: governments adopt the framework's language without the enforcement mechanisms, giving platforms a clean bill of health they haven't earned.
If you insist
Read the original →
The Sendoff
The World Bank has written a rulebook for regulating Uber in countries where Uber's lawyers outnumber the labor inspectors. The rulebook is a good start.