The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has published an analysis linking restrictions on digitally enabled services trade with lower diffusion of digital intermediation platforms, particularly those headquartered abroad. Based on website traffic for around 860 platforms across OECD countries, the paper covers travel and accommodation booking, ride-hailing and carpooling, and business-to-consumer or consumer-to-consumer online marketplaces. The results show statistical associations rather than causal effects, and website traffic serves as a proxy for platform reach rather than transactions or market share. Foreign platforms accounted for an estimated 54% of travel and accommodation traffic and 46% of ride-hailing and carpooling traffic in 2024. Their share of online marketplace traffic was 33% for pure intermediaries and 45% when hybrid platforms were included. Competition increased substantially in ride-hailing between 2014 and 2024, while travel and accommodation remained fragmented and online marketplaces continued to show limited competitive pressure on the largest platforms. A 0.01 point easing of restrictions on intellectual property rights protection and enforcement was associated with an 8% increase in overall travel and accommodation platform traffic and nearly 25% higher traffic for foreign platforms. The same change was associated with about 90% higher foreign platform traffic in ride-hailing and carpooling. For pure online marketplaces, a 0.01 point reduction in payment restrictions was associated with a 200% increase in foreign platform traffic, while easing broader barriers such as local presence and advertising requirements was associated with 37% higher foreign traffic and a 1 to 2 percentage point increase in foreign market share. The paper also finds that digital trade restrictiveness has risen over the past decade, while the global economy had achieved only about 8.5% of full digital trade integration and openness by 2024.

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