Legal Boundaries and Institutional Reconstruction of Data Rights Allocation in the Context of the Platform Economy

Abstract

In the context of the platform economy, data as a new factor of production is characterized by ambiguous entitlement and imbalanced use, giving rise to conflicts of interest among multiple actors. Taking the allocation of data rights within platform ecosystems as the main thread, this paper first sorts out the structure of data entitlements, and summarizes the main dilemmas in practice, including the formalization of user consent, unclear boundaries between personal information protection and data re-use, concentration of data on dominant platforms that squeezes competition, and weak remedies for data-related rights. On this basis, it explores potential paths for reshaping the legal boundaries and reconstructing the institutional framework of data rights allocation in the platform economy, focusing on restructuring data collection and use procedures, coordinating personal information protection with data-driven innovation, improving competition rules and data openness arrangements, and strengthening remedies and liability allocation for data rights. The aim is to provide normative reference for the market-oriented allocation of data as a production factor.