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Advertising, Data protection, Designation Decision, Digital, Digital competition, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Facebook

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) became entirely applicable on 7 March 2024. By then, the gatekeepers issued their compliance reports documenting their technical solutions and implementation of the DMA’s provisions under Article 11 DMA as well as their reports on consumer profiling techniques as required under Article 15 DMA (see here). I will be covering the…

Amazon, App stores, Apple, Apps, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Europe, European Commission, Ex ante regulation, Facebook, Google

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is now applicable. Following the 6-month interim period where gatekeepers had the opportunity to adapt their business models to the regulation, the DMA now requires them to prove their effective compliance with its provisions. To do that, on 7 March 2024, the six designated gatekeepers in September (see here) presented…

Abuse of dominance, Advantage, Advertising, App stores, Apple, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, European Commission, European Union, Ex ante regulation, Facebook

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The wheels of the DMA have started turning and so have the International Law Talk episodes. I had the pleasure to interview Assimakis Komninos following the Commission’s press release establishing the economic operators that it had designated as gatekeepers under the DMA. This triggering event gave us the excuse to talk about a range of…

Amazon, Apple, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, Ex ante regulation, Facebook, Google, Governance, Procedures, Proportionality

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

On the 31st of July, the European Commission issued for public consultation its (fourth) Template relating to the audited description of consumer profiling techniques pursuant to Article 15 of the DMA (the Template). The Template is inserted within the Commission’s wider transparency strategy to provide for a stream of implementing acts to secure the DMA’s…

Abuse of dominance, Advertising, Advocate General, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital Markets Act, Enforcement, European Court of Justice, Facebook, Germany, References for a preliminary ruling

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /2 Comments

On 4 July 2023, the Court of Justice resolved the conundrum around the potential interaction between data protection regulation and competition law following the legal opera that started in 2019 with the German competition authority’s case against Facebook/Meta’s processing activities (for a summary of the case, see here). The ruling hops onto Advocate General Rantos’…

Abuse of dominance, Advertising, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Facebook, Germany, Google, Privacy, Regulation

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

Last 23 December 2022, the Bundeskartellamt, the Federal Cartel Office (FCO), sent a statement of objections (SOO) to Google regarding its data processing terms. This SOO follows the Bundeskartellamt’s prior designation as an undertaking with paramount significance for competition across markets under the German DMA-like provision of Section 19a GWB. Looking at the SOO and…

Facebook, Merger control, Merger Thresholds, Platforms, United Kingdom

, (Northeastern University)/ /1 Comment

When, why, and on what evidence can a competition regulator in one jurisdiction push for divestments in global deals? An increasingly active UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has been making its presence known, not least in technology mergers. This blog post will review core questions from Meta/Giphy relevant to advising on UK merger clearance…

Abuse of dominance, European Commission, Facebook, Platforms, Tying and Bundling

(Leiden University)/ /Leave a comment

Factual background Just before 2022 ended the Commission sent a statement of objections to Meta regarding the potential abusive behaviour of Facebook. According to the statement of objections, Facebook may be engaging in (i) abusive tying practices with regard to Facebook Marketplace as users (i.e. consumers) that log into Facebook and are automatically also offered…

Competition enforcement, Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, Enforcement, European Court of Justice, Facebook, Germany, Privacy, Tying and Bundling

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

The wheels of the German competition authority’s enforcement of its dedicated rules on digital markets have started to turn (on the technical and substantive aspects of Section 19a GWB, see previous posts here and here). According to the recently introduced rules, the Bundeskartellamt first formally determines that an undertaking is of paramount significance for competition…

Abuse of dominance, Advocate General, European Court of Justice, Facebook, Privacy

(University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

On 20 September 2022, Advocate General Rantos delivers his Opinion on the much-awaited Case C-252/21 (Meta Platforms v. Bundeskartellamt). Bearing in mind the Opinion intends to pave the way for the European Court of Justice (ECJ) regarding the interpretation of the GDPR, the text resonates with competition law and its interpretation in the display online…