DIPs are playing an increasingly important role in the global economy, acting as facilitators of more efficient and competitive markets. By expanding access to goods and services, lowering transaction costs, and enabling the participation of MSMEs in domestic and cross-border trade, DIPs contribute meaningfully to broader digital transformation and productivity growth (Costa et al., 2021[4]).
This paper provides new insights into the global footprint and evolution of DIPs by building a comprehensive cross-country database of their diffusion across three key consumer-facing sectors. It highlights not only the scale and scope of platform uptake over the past year but also the degree of foreign presence in each country and sector. These findings offer a valuable evidence base for assessing how regulatory environments could shape the availability, diversity and origin of online platform services.
The analysis suggests that restrictions to digitally enabled services trade significantly influence the diffusion of DIPs. Complementary evidence from López González, Sorescu and Kaynak (2023[10]) indicates that even modest easing of those restrictions can stimulate substantial growth in exports, particularly in digitally deliverable services. While cross-border data flows and data localisation remain central concerns, persistent regulatory measures – such as restrictions on payment systems, local presence requirements, and IPR constraints – continue to affect platform uptake and competitiveness.
While online platforms can empower MSMEs, expand market access, and support more dynamic service delivery, they also raise policy challenges. The ability to achieve economies of scope, characteristic of many platforms, can lead to market concentration and winner-takes-most dynamics. This is especially evident in ride-hailing and carpooling, where a small number of firms dominate in many countries.
Promoting openness in digital markets must also carefully balance the need for a trusted, transparent, and predictable regulatory and policy environment as well as their alignment with technical capabilities to enforce them. The core challenge for governments lies in enabling the flow of (or access) to data across borders while ensuring protection and oversight. This is the foundation of the DFFT agenda, which aims to combine economic openness with safeguards that preserve public trust (OECD, 2022[23]; OECD, 2022[24]). Evidence suggests that both excessive restrictions and a lack of governance can result in significant economic and social costs, while balanced approaches like Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT) can deliver substantial gains, especially for developing economies (OECD/WTO, 2025[25]).
Ultimately, fostering an economy that enables digital intermediation while managing its risks will be critical to harness the benefits of market openness. This includes reducing unnecessary regulatory frictions and ensuring high standards of transparency, trust, and consumer protection. As concerns about risks from technology solutions from untrusted vendors grow, supply chain risk management that incorporates guidance and other tools is also important to identify, assess and mitigate risks related to untrusted vendors. This applies to the incorporation of new technologies in business operations, as well as to technologies already in place that may contain security vulnerabilities. Continued multilateral co-operation will also be vital to building a more open, trusted, and inclusive digital ecosystem.