Plataformas de Capital versus Plataformas Sociales en la Economía Colaborativa: Punto de vista jurídico internacional

In the economy, we distinguish, in a simple way, the strictly capitalist business sector and the corporate social sector. This simple dichotomy has been transferred to the scope of the collaborative economy, which mistakenly includes under the same name capital platforms and social platforms. These platforms have in common different factors, for instance, namely that they essentially use the digital platform to develop their activity; but they differ in that the first ones seek to maximize capital and the platform is a mere messenger that manages economic transactions just like the classical economy. In front of these, there are social platforms in which the main objective is not for profit, although benefits are obtained, the goal being to have a social impact, at the same time that it provides services or products to the users, following specific values. On the one hand, it is necessary to analyze the legal structure of these platforms. The capitalist economy has as a leading actor the mercantile company, while the social economy is based on cooperatives, associations, foundations. The last assertion does not imply that limited companies of social economy exist in comparative law. On the other hand, is very important to determine the legal position of the parties or participants in the collaborative economy and the value of their agreements, especially in situations where does not exist peer-to-peer. In particular, our study aims to focus on contractual and noncontractual relationships exist between the three participants. At this point, we introduce the initial legislative proposals that are being made in the European Union, which specifically wants to protect the consumer, especially online.