Digital technologies have considerably changed the way commerce and distribution work. Internet sales are growing exponentially. Numerous offline retailers are now marketing their products and services online, and “pure play” retailers, almost exclusively active in internet sales, have emerged.  At the same time, digital technologies (e.g. smartphones, tablets, augmented technologies) are increasingly forming part of the…

Yesterday marked the beginning of a busy summer on the regulatory front, as the European Commission fired the starting gun for the regulation of digital platforms.  The Commission launched a public consultation on the Digital Services Act (“DSA”), a much-awaited package announced in the political guidelines of the new Commission and in the Commission’s Communication “Shaping…

Today, I am delighted to interview my friend Horacio Gutierrez, Spotify’s Head of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer. Just as the Commission launched its public consultation on the DSA package, it is a great time to discuss with Horacio the future of innovation, competition and regulation in digital markets. Horacio, could you tell us…

The Platform Law Blog has interviewed Jorge Padilla, one of the world’s leading antitrust economists, on the “platform envelopment” theory through privacy policy tying, which he developed together with Daniele Condorelli. Jorge’s work is always insightful (and I can vouch to that having worked with Jorge on multiple occasions) and his recent co-authored papers on…

As discussed in a prior post, the European Commission is currently working on an ex ante regulation to control the market power of so-called “digital gatekeepers” or “systemic platforms”. An idea floated by some would be to base this ex ante regulation on the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications. The main features of this…

On 20 April 2020, the Australian Government announced that it had directed the ACCC to develop a mandatory code of conduct to address bargaining power imbalances between Australian news media businesses and digital platforms. The government has asked that a draft mandatory code be released for public consultation before the end of July 2020, with…

Andrei Hagiu, Tat-How Teh and Julia Wright have recently posted on the Internet an interesting paper trying to answer the question of whether Amazon should be allowed to sell on its own marketplace. This is a highly topical subject as concerns have been raised that Amazon’s dual role as operator of its marketplace and competitor…

Google’s proposed acquisition of Fitbit “has the potential to be a game-changer”, the European Consumer Organisation (“BEUC”) warns in a report published recently outlining the merger’s competition concerns and harms to consumers. The effects of the combination of Google’s unparalleled market power across several digital markets and Fitbit’s exceptional dataset could be felt, according to…