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Following in Australia’s footsteps: EU to make Google and Facebook pay for news?
Continue reading: Following in Australia’s footsteps: EU to make Google and Facebook pay for news?Members of the European Parliament are eager to follow in Australia’s footsteps and force Google and Facebook to pay for news, the Financial Times reported. MEPs working on the Digital Services Act (“DSA”) and the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) could consider amending these instruments to reflect aspects of the proposed Australian News Media and Digital…
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What will be the role of EU competition law in a post-DMA environment ?
Continue reading: What will be the role of EU competition law in a post-DMA environment ?One of the questions that is regularly raised regarding the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) recently proposed by the European Commission concerns its relationship with and impact on EU competition law. In particular, will EU competition law and competition authorities continue to play an important role in digital markets once the DMA has been adopted? Or…
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ACCC finds lack of competition in ad tech affects publishers, advertisers, and consumers
Continue reading: ACCC finds lack of competition in ad tech affects publishers, advertisers, and consumersAustralia has turned into one of the key regulatory battlefields for Big Tech – see for example the ongoing acrimonious fight over the news media code, with Google and Facebook threatening to pull out of the country if the proposed code enters into force. In the meantime, following up on its Digital Platforms Inquiry (report…
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The Digital Markets Act proposal: Is this a sound document?
Continue reading: The Digital Markets Act proposal: Is this a sound document?Like most competition lawyers working in the tech space, I eagerly read the Digital Markets Act (DMA) proposal when it came out on 15 December 2020. My first reaction was positive. As a proponent of the idea that some ex ante regulation is needed to address the concerns created by digital gatekeepers, I was pleased…
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CMA opens investigation into Google’s Privacy Sandbox browser changes
Continue reading: CMA opens investigation into Google’s Privacy Sandbox browser changesThe Competition and Markets Authority has just announced it will investigate Google’s decision to remove third-party cookies from its Chrome browser in early 2022 and replace them with a set of proposals known as the Privacy Sandbox (NB: Google has justified this decision on privacy). The investigation – under Chapter II of the Competition Act…
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Digital Platforms and the Law: Ten Predictions for 2021
Continue reading: Digital Platforms and the Law: Ten Predictions for 2021Happy New Year to the readers of this blog! 2020 was an eventful year for digital platforms – or, at least, the largest of them – with a combination of lawsuits, competition law investigations and regulatory proposals. When we set up our Platform Law Practice at Geradin Partners, we did not know we would be…
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Texas, other US States sue Google for anti-competitive conduct and collusion with Facebook
Continue reading: Texas, other US States sue Google for anti-competitive conduct and collusion with FacebookLast Wednesday, on 16 December 2020, Texas and nine other US States filed an antitrust lawsuit before the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas with respect to Google’s conduct in ad tech (reminder: almost two months earlier the Department of Justice sued Google with respect to its practices in general search; click here…
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The EU Digital Markets Act in 10 points
Continue reading: The EU Digital Markets Act in 10 pointsYesterday the European Commission unveiled its much-expected proposal for a Digital Markets Act. Our general impression is that it is a solid and sophisticated piece of work with a fairly wide scope of application (i.e., going beyond the GAFA), which would place significant constraints on digital gatekeepers. Here is our (very preliminary) analysis in 10…
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FTC, US States file antitrust lawsuit against Facebook to challenge its “buy-or-bury”, “open-first, closed-later” strategies
Continue reading: FTC, US States file antitrust lawsuit against Facebook to challenge its “buy-or-bury”, “open-first, closed-later” strategiesWednesday December 9th, 2020: the US Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and 48 US States (led by New York State Attorney General Letitia James) filed antitrust lawsuits against Facebook, arguing the tech giant has unlawfully maintained its monopoly power in the market for “Personal Social Networking” in breach of Section 2 of the Sherman Act (see…
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There is much to like in the CMA Digital Markets Taskforce’s advice to the UK government on a pro-competition regime for digital markets
Continue reading: There is much to like in the CMA Digital Markets Taskforce’s advice to the UK government on a pro-competition regime for digital marketsYesterday, the Digital Markets Taskforce led by the CMA issued its advice (the “Advice”) regarding the setting of a pro-competition regime in digital markets in the UK, referred to as a Strategic Market Status (“SMS regime”). This Advice is a very rich document of 89 pages, accompanied by several Appendices. This post does not intend…