By: Elena Marquez

The platform economy is often celebrated as a gateway to opportunity. Online marketplaces connect sellers to global buyers. Mobile wallets bring financial services to people who once had none. Digital tools promise efficiency, speed, and scale.

Yet Mayada El-Zoghbi sees another side of the story.

In Power, Platforms & Participation, Mayada looks closely at how digital systems shape economic life. Her perspective comes from more than twenty years working in inclusive finance and development across emerging markets.

The conclusion she draws is not simple. Digital platforms can open doors for millions. But without careful design and thoughtful oversight, they can also quietly leave entire populations behind.

The People Most Likely to Be Excluded

When people think about the digital economy, they often imagine a world where access to technology is nearly universal. But in reality, participation still depends on a few basic tools.

A person needs a mobile phone, internet connectivity, digital literacy, and increasingly some form of digital payment account.

Anyone lacking these foundations faces a steep barrier to entry.

Mayada points out that this can affect many different groups depending on the country. Elderly populations may struggle with digital tools. Farmers and rural communities often lack reliable connectivity. Refugees and migrants frequently encounter identification hurdles that prevent them from opening digital accounts.

Language also matters. People who speak indigenous languages rather than dominant national languages may find digital systems difficult to navigate.

Even literacy plays a role. A person who cannot read may struggle to use services that rely heavily on written interfaces.

The result is a patchwork of exclusion that varies from place to place but follows a familiar pattern. When digital systems expand, they often serve those who are already connected first.

When Algorithms Misread Reality

Even individuals who technically have access to technology can find themselves excluded.

Mayada gives the example of migrant workers who frequently change phone numbers or SIM cards as they move for work. From the perspective of an algorithm, that behavior can appear suspicious.

Systems designed to assess reliability may interpret these changes as a sign of instability. As a result, migrants might struggle to qualify for services that rely on digital data, such as credit scoring or government programs.

In other words, the system misreads their reality.

The algorithm does not understand the economic conditions forcing someone to move frequently. It only sees fragmented data.

Situations like this highlight an important point in Mayada’s work. Data driven systems often assume that the information they collect tells the full story. In practice, that story can be incomplete or misleading.

When Technology Reinforces Gender Gaps

Gender inequality is another powerful factor shaping digital participation.

Mayada often asks people to imagine a woman living in a rural community in sub Saharan Africa. In many cases she may not own her own phone. Instead she shares one with her husband.

This arrangement may seem practical, but it creates a hidden problem.

Digital identities are built through data. The name on the phone account, the mobile wallet registration, and the digital transaction history all contribute to that identity.

If the phone and financial accounts are registered under the husband’s name, the data generated through everyday activity strengthens his digital footprint rather than hers.

Now imagine that the woman wants to apply for a small business loan through a digital lender.

From the system’s perspective she barely exists.

There is little data attached to her name. The algorithm cannot see her economic activity. It only sees the absence of information.

This phenomenon is often called algorithmic bias. The technology itself may appear neutral, but the underlying data reflects social norms that already limit women’s visibility in financial systems.

In many regions this scenario is not unusual. It is simply how daily life works.

A New Kind of Regulatory Challenge

As digital platforms grow, governments face a new set of policy questions.

Traditional regulation often focused on price. The main concern was whether monopolies could charge consumers unfairly high prices.

But digital services complicate that model.

Many online platforms offer services that appear free or extremely cheap. Users pay not with money but with data.

For Mayada, this shift changes the entire conversation about consumer protection.

The key issue is no longer price alone. It is how companies collect, store, and use the massive volumes of personal data generated through digital activity.

Regulators must now ask questions that barely existed twenty years ago.

Who owns personal data?
What counts as informed consent?
How should companies store and share sensitive information?
And what happens when something goes wrong?

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation offers one model for approaching these issues. But Mayada notes that different countries may need different solutions depending on their economic and institutional realities.

What matters most is recognizing that digital platforms increasingly function like public infrastructure. Decisions about how they operate carry real social consequences.

Designing Technology for Everyone

Technology companies also have a role to play in shaping a more inclusive digital economy.

Mayada often points to a long standing issue in product design to illustrate the problem. Historically, many industries tested products using a model based on the average male body.

Car safety testing offers a well known example. Crash test dummies were traditionally designed around male physical dimensions. As a result, women face significantly higher injury risks during car accidents.

The same pattern can appear in technology.

Smartphones, for instance, are often designed with dimensions that are comfortable for larger hands. For many women this can make one handed use difficult.

These design choices may seem small, but they reflect a larger issue. When companies build products for a narrow version of the “average user,” large segments of the population end up underserved.

Creating inclusive systems begins with understanding who the users actually are.

Companies must look closely at the diversity of their customers and recognize that different groups have different needs. Designing for that diversity is not just socially responsible. It also expands markets.

Ignoring half the population is rarely good business strategy.

The Role of Global Institutions

Global development institutions also play an influential role in shaping digital participation.

Organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations, and regional development banks often help finance major infrastructure projects in developing economies. These projects might include national payment systems or digital social protection programs.

Moments like these can shape the structure of an entire digital ecosystem.

If the systems are designed with inclusion in mind, they can help bring underserved populations into the financial and digital mainstream. If not, they can reinforce existing inequalities for years to come.

Mayada believes donors and development institutions carry a significant responsibility. Their funding and technical expertise can guide governments toward more inclusive approaches.

The ripple effects of those decisions can last for decades.

A Digital Economy Worth Building

The future of the digital economy is still unfolding.

Platforms will continue to reshape how businesses operate, how people interact with financial services, and how societies manage information.

Mayada’s work does not reject this transformation. Instead, it asks a deeper question.

Who gets to participate?

Building a digital economy that works for everyone requires attention to design, regulation, and social realities that technology alone cannot solve.

Access matters. Representation matters. Data governance matters.

The challenge is not simply to build faster platforms or more powerful algorithms.

It is to build systems that recognize the full diversity of the people they are meant to serve.

Take a moment to explore Power, Platforms & Participation by Mayada El-Zoghbi, a thoughtful look at how innovation and finance can create real impact. It’s a great read if you’re curious about how systems are evolving to better serve people.