LEGAL APPROACHES TO LIABILITY OF DIGITAL PLATFORM OPERATORS TO CONSUMERS

Authors

Dmitriy Kozhemyakin, Docent (eq. Associate professor) of the Department of financial and business law of the Volgograd Institute of management – branch of RANEPA, Senior Researcher in the Center of Intellectual Property and Rights at Tomsk State University, specialist in the cyberlaw, copyright and legal conflicts related to the development of the Internet and IT.
Svetlana Mironova, Professor of the Department of financial and business law of the Volgograd Institute of management – branch of RANEPA; specialist in the field of financial, business and tax law.

Abstract

This article is devoted to the consideration of approaches to the liability of digital platform operators to consumers. Given that the number of digital consumers who use goods (works, services) purchased using digital platforms is growing, it becomes necessary to define the concept and features of such platforms, determine the relationship between them, consumers and suppliers, as well as identify problems of legal liability of digital platforms. The article draws attention to the fact that despite the differences in the terminology used in legislation and literature (digital platforms, digital platform operators, aggregators, owners of aggregators, etc.), all of the above entities have similarities, expressed in the performance of a certain intermediary function between the buyer and the supplier. At the same time, the scope of such mediation can vary significantly depending on the type of digital platform. The nature of the interaction of a digital platform with its users has a number of specific features, which, in combination, cast doubt on the fairness of this state of affairs and initiate searches to bring the platform to secondary liability. A number of cases on holding digital platform operators accountable are given, on the basis of which it is concluded that at present, in many jurisdictions, there are no special provisions on the liability of digital platform operators to consumers. At the same time, the courts, while bringing the operators to liability, identify it with the direct tortfeasor, which makes it possible to use legal mechanisms of strict liability of the seller of goods or service provider, works for their possible shortcomings.

Recommended Citation

Kozhemyakin, Dmitriy and Mironova, Svetlana (2022) "LEGAL APPROACHES TO LIABILITY OF DIGITAL PLATFORM OPERATORS TO CONSUMERS," International Journal on Consumer Law and Practice: Vol. 10, Article 2.
Available at: https://repository.nls.ac.in/ijclp/vol10/iss1/2