Digital economy

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…

Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Services Act, Europe, New Competition Tool, Platforms

(Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy)/ /Leave a comment

The current policy debate The European Commission will table two main legislative proposals on digital platforms: the Digital Markets Act (DMA) with new rules regarding the behaviour of gatekeeper platforms in competition, and the Digital Services Act with updated rules on the use of content by platforms, i.e. a reform of the e-commerce-Directive. As, amongst…

Abuse of dominance, Competition enforcement, Competition law, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Germany, Legislation

(Heinz & Zagrosek Partner mbB, Germany)/ /Leave a comment

The government’s draft for new competition rules, including on (digital) platforms, published in September 2020 (see here) includes a provision specifically aimed at powerful digital gatekeepers, draft Section 19a ARC.  The proposal was debated in parliament on November 25, 2020, is largely expected to be adopted more or less in its current form and to…

Digital economy, European Court of Justice, European Union, Facebook, Request for information (RFI)

(Deloitte Legal)/ /Leave a comment

The Court order of 29 October 2020 struck by the President of the General Court in a dispute between Facebook and the European Commission is probably the first time in a while where the essence of a case against one of the Big Tech firms lies not in what those companies are (or are not)…

Antitrust, Digital economy, European Commission, European Court of Auditors, European Union, Merger control

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

The Court of Auditors believes that the introduction of new instruments should go hand in hand with stricter enforcement of existing instruments In a Special Report published on 19 November 2020, the European Court of Auditors (the ‘Court’) makes a plea for more stringent enforcement of EU competition policy. The Special Report comes at a…