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Big Tech’s financial services activities – and their forthcoming regulatory attention
Continue reading: Big Tech’s financial services activities – and their forthcoming regulatory attentionApple, Google and Amazon (and to a lesser extent, Meta) have been tentatively expanding into the financial services sector for years now. It has been very interesting to watch their strategies and it seems things are hotting up. Damien and I wrote an article on this topic, which was published in the European Competition Journal…
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The DMA has been published: Now the real challenges start
Continue reading: The DMA has been published: Now the real challenges startThe Digital Market Act (“DMA”) has been published today. It is a remarkable instrument in many ways. Since the publication of the Commission proposal in December 2020, it took less than 1.5 years for the Council and the Parliament to agree on the final text. The supersonic adoption of the DMA was due to several…
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General Court largely upholds the Commission’s decision in Google Android (Case T-604/18)
Continue reading: General Court largely upholds the Commission’s decision in Google Android (Case T-604/18)Earlier this month the General Court of the EU (the “Court”) delivered its much-anticipated judgment on Google’s action for annulment of the Commission’s decision in Case AT.40099 (Google Android) – the decision currently holding the record for the highest antitrust fine ever imposed, namely EUR 4.3 billion. By way of reminder, the Commission found that…
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Unravelling the Media Freedom Act proposal: Ambitious yet underwhelming?
Continue reading: Unravelling the Media Freedom Act proposal: Ambitious yet underwhelming?On 16 September, the European Commission (“Commission”) published its much-anticipated proposal for a Media Freedom Act (“MFA”). The proposed MFA is an ambitious initiative. It includes rules that would apply to all actors of the media ecosystem (Member States, broadcasters, press publishers, on-demand players, online platforms). It also seeks to address several complex issues which have been facing…
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Google’s latest attempts to squeeze app developers in the face of regulation: When principles and coherence no longer matter
Continue reading: Google’s latest attempts to squeeze app developers in the face of regulation: When principles and coherence no longer matterAs the readers of this blog know, app developers selling digital content have been unhappy for many years with Apple’s App Store policies, which force them to use its in-app payment solution (“IAP) and charges them a 30% commission, which is reduced to 15% in limited circumstances. These policies led Apple into trouble in the…
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Amazon/iRobot: The flywheel spins once more
Continue reading: Amazon/iRobot: The flywheel spins once moreIt was reported last week that the US Federal Trade Commission has started investigating Amazon’s $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot, the maker of Roomba smart vacuum cleaners. It seems to us that the UK and EU authorities will also have jurisdiction to investigate. Why should anyone (apart from iRobot’s shareholders) care about a large retailer…
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Designating large platforms under the DMA and the DSA: Comparing apples and oranges?
Continue reading: Designating large platforms under the DMA and the DSA: Comparing apples and oranges?The Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) and the Digital Services Act (“DSA”) will soon start to apply. Broadly speaking, both instruments have the same objective, which is to address concerns arising from the increasing reliance on online platforms. However, despite being presented as parts of the same “package”, the DSA and the DMA do not have many similarities because they…
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Antitrust is turning its eye to gaming
Continue reading: Antitrust is turning its eye to gamingLast week, I spoke at the Video Games Bar Association’s annual summit which took place at devcom in Cologne, Germany. The event confirmed to me that gaming is where the innovative technologies of the future are in many ways already a reality today. It was my contention at the conference that competition law is turning…
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CMA music streaming market study: what’s going on?
Continue reading: CMA music streaming market study: what’s going on?Music streaming is a fascinating industry, and many people were looking forward to seeing how the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) had used its wide-reaching information gathering powers to uncover any problems. This is a huge and culturally-important industry for the UK, and it seems to operate in some weird and convoluted ways. There…
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Regulating big tech raises big implementation questions
Continue reading: Regulating big tech raises big implementation questionsA milestone was reached yesterday for the regulation of digital platforms: the Council of the European Union gave its final approval to the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”), following the European Parliament’s adoption of the legislative text in plenary on 5 July. The DMA, which will ensure the fairness and contestability of digital markets by setting out a list of…