Digital economy

Abuse of dominance, Advertising, Algorithms, Apple, Big data, Data protection, Digital economy, Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, E-commerce, European Union, Facebook, France, Google, Online advertising, Online advertising restrictions, Online platforms, Platforms

(BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation) and (University of Vienna, Austria)/ /2 Comments

Recently, Google and Apple have changed their policy for targeted online advertising. Privacy-conscious users have been switching to alternatives for years, however, completely avoiding being tracked by online tech giants is virtually impossible. Nevertheless, the online ad industry has grown tremendously in the last decade, and targeted behavioural advertising has become ubiquitous in the online…

Abuse of dominance, Data protection, Digital economy, European Court of Justice, Facebook, Germany

(Spieker & Jaeger)/ /Leave a comment

On 24 March 2021 the Higher Regional Court (‘Oberlandesgericht’) of Düsseldorf put yet another twist to the ‘Facebook Saga’. Although the formal written submission is not yet available, the Düsseldorf closed the hearing by staying the proceedings and announcing the referral to the CJEU of questions on data protection law.   Pricing Guns To be…

Abuse of dominance, Digital economy, European Court of Justice, Telecommunications

(Bird and Bird, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

The recent judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU (“the CJEU”) in Slovak Telekom[1] is a judgment with significant implications.  This article, first, summarises the main lessons from Slovak Telecom as regards the indispensability criterion in cases of refusal to supply competitors by dominant companies and, second, speculates on some likely consequences for…

Abuse of dominance, Digital economy, Google, United States of America

(University of Copenhagen)/ /2 Comments

Much noise has been made over the US FTC’s 2013 decision not to pursue charges against Google. A recent release of the full file has fueled this further, feeding into a general frustration over Big Tech and perceived enforcement deficits. However, most of the FTC file has been available since 2015, and but for a…

Competition Commission of India, Data protection, Digital economy, India, Investigations, Privacy, Whatsapp

, , (Nishith Desai Associates)/ /Leave a comment

On 24 March 2021, the Competition Commission of India (‘CCI’) passed an order initiating investigation against WhatsApp Inc. (‘WhatsApp’) and Facebook Inc. (‘FB’) to determine if WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy terms allowing it to share user data with FB and its subsidiaries constituted an abuse of dominance (‘Initiation Order’).[1] The Initiation Order shoves India’s competition…

Abuse of dominance, Data protection, Digital economy, Facebook, Germany

, (Spieker & Jaeger)/ /Leave a comment

With the adoption of the 10th amendment to the Act against Restraints of Competition (ARC, ‘Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen’) on 14.01.2021 by the German Parliament (’Bundestag’), the curtain will lower on an antitrust opera [previously reported by Silke Heinz here]: ‘The Abduction from (not the Seraglio) the Düsseldorf Court of Appeals’.   Overture For the following,…

Algorithms, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, Intellectual property (IP), International Law Talk, Online platforms, Platforms, Podcast

(University of Vienna, Austria)/ /Leave a comment

The Kluwer Competition Law Blog is very happy to announce the first competition law issue of the International Law Talk Podcast. Just before Christmas, I talked to Gabriella Muscolo, Commissioner of the Italian Competition Authority, a specialist for big data, IP and competition law. We covered the whole bandwidth of big data and competition law,…

Competition Commission of India, Digital economy, Digital markets, Facebook, India, Tying and Bundling, Whatsapp

(Chambers of Adv Shresth Gautam) and (LexStart)/ /Leave a comment

The antitrust watchdog of India recently in Harshita Chawla v Whatsapp and Facebook[1] held that Whatsapp’s proposed model of integrating its payments app called ‘Whatsapp Pay’ (‘WPay’) within its messaging app is not anti-competitive since it does not constitute ‘tying in’ due to lack of coercion. In reaching such a conclusion the Competition Commission of…

Canada, Digital economy, Online advertising

(Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /Leave a comment

Early Warnings: Canada’s Regulators Issue Warning Letters to Mobile App Companies Anita Banicevic and Joshua Hollenberg, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP In late November 2020, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) and the Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced the issuance of 36 warning letters to…

Algorithms, Big data, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, E-commerce, European Commission, European Union, New Competition Tool, Online platforms, Platforms, Vestager

(Loyens & Loeff, Netherlands) and (Loyens & Loeff)/ /Leave a comment

“I’ve been wondering how to give a metaphor because these are two quite complex proposals. And the best thing I came to think of was the first-ever traffic light that brought order in the streets, that was actually in the US, in Cleveland Ohio. And that was invented as a response to a major technological…