Platform Work Meets Care Regimes: Lessons from the French Debate

How do national care regimes influence the way digital platforms enter, organise and transform the home care sector? In this episode, Clémence Ledoux and Nicole Teke (University of Nantes) unpack the role of institutional frameworks in shaping platform business models across Europe. Drawing on comparative evidence from the ORIGAMI project, they show how differences in funding schemes, regulatory instruments and market boundaries lead platforms to adopt distinct organisational strategies. Focusing on the French case, the episode explores how digital platforms navigate a highly regulated care sector, the models they use to operate within or around existing rules, and the ongoing policy debates on platform work in France—from authorisation procedures to algorithmic management and tax incentives. A conversation that sheds light on why platform-mediated care develops so unevenly across countries, and how governance shapes innovation on the ground.