DOJ’s suit against Apple, what competition means, and more

Sling podcast here.

Antitrust Law in California: 'objective' reports on the topics addressed by experts

 California Law Revision Committee, Here. 

Eleanor Fox on Global Computational Antitrust

 Video here

EU Policy. Deal on landmark health data space clinched in the eleventh hour

 Euronews, here. 

Meta v Bundeskartellamt — data-based conduct between antitrust law and regulation

 A. Witt, here. 

Avviata istruttoria nei confronti di Booking per presunto abuso di posizione dominante

 AGCM, here. 

Quantum antitrust – A unified exclusionary abuse theory

 Xiaomi, here. 

An Economic Framework for Understanding Artificial Intelligence

 The White House, here. 

Preserving competition across the spectrum

 DG Comp, here. 

Breaking down the DOJ's complaint against Apple

 S. Sharda, here. 

Competition in Generative AI: Future of Life Institute’s Feedback to the European Commission’s Consultation

 Here. 

Qualcomm Abandons Bid to Buy Autotalks, FTC Welcomes Decision

 WSJ, here. 

EDPS INVESTIGATION INTO USE OF MICROSOFT 365 BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

 EDPS, here. 

Apple, Google and Meta face first formal investigations under EU’s DMA

 Natasha The Great, here. 

Online news: Research Update

 Ofcom, here. 

Google Attempts to Redefine Its Local Services to Avoid DMA Compliance Consequences

 Near Media, here. 

MARKET POWER IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

 J. Gans, here. 

‘Even stronger’ than imagined: DOJ’s sweeping Apple lawsuit draws expert praise

 The Verge, here. 

ASOS, Boohoo and Asda: greenwashing investigation

 CMA, here. 

A Bump in the Road for Apple

 The American Prospect, here. 

Digital public infrastructure and public value: What is ‘public’ about DPI?

 UCL, here. 

Case C-797/23, Meta Platforms Ireland: Request for a preliminary ruling

 Here. 

A Big Defeat for Big Tech

 J. Stiglitz, here. 

In-App Browsers: The worst erosion of user choice you haven’t heard of

 Open Web Advocacy, here. 

Commission opens investigation into possible anticompetitive conduct by Zoetis over novel pain medicine for dogs

 EC, here. 

Government Agencies Act to Elevate and Build Tech and Digital Capacity

 FTC, here. 

Building Tech Capacity in Law Enforcement Agencies

 FTC, here. 

Online advertising: Amazon’s request to suspend its obligation to make an advertisement repository publicly available is rejected

 CJEU, here. 

AI: Accountability Report

 NTIA, here. 

Workshop series on DMA compliance

 Recordings here. 

Remarks by Executive-Vice President Vestager and Commissioner Breton on the opening of non-compliance investigations under the Digital Markets Act

 Here.

After raising $1.3B, Inflection got eaten alive by its biggest investor, Microsoft

 

TechCrunch, here. 

Meta offers lower cost for EU ad-free subscription under privacy review

 TechCrunch, here. 

The new digital landscape: Interaction between the DMA and rules of national and EU law governing the conduct of gatekeepers

 G. Gryllos, here. 

Apple’s AI ambitions could include Google or OpenAI

 The Verge, here. 

It’s time to strengthen data protection law for the AI era

 Ada Lovelace Institute, here. 

BEREC high-level position on artificial intelligence and virtual worlds

 Here. 

Digital Platform Services Inquiry – September 2024 report revisiting general search services

 ACCC, here. 

The Meta Smokescreen

 OurCuriousAmalgam, here. 

BEREC publishes its Opinion on Meta’s draft reference offer for WhatsApp interoperability

 Here. 

Turkey Imposes Interim Measures on Meta Platforms

 CPI, here. 

Accelerating America’s shift to open banking

 CFPB, here. 

Competition in Virtual Worlds and Generative AI

 Some contributions to the EC's call are surfacing:

Austrian Federal Competition Authority, here. 

AK Austria hier. 

Inatba here. 

GAI here. 

ICLE here.

Group of civil society organizations here.

Erwerb der MorphoSys AG durch die Novartis AG freigegeben

 Bundeskartellamt, hier. 

TikTok Is Facing Its Greatest Threat Yet

 Wired, here. 

After AWS and Google, Microsoft says it’s removing Azure ‘egress’ data transfer fees — but with caveats

 TechCrunch, here. 

Spotify says its iPhone app updates in the EU are getting held up by Apple

 The Verge, here. 

Competition in Generative Artificial Intelligence

 cepInput, here. 

Journal of AI Law and Regulation!

 Here. 

Commission sends requests for information on generative AI risks to 6 Very Large Online Platforms and 2 Very Large Online Search Engines under the Digital Services Act

 EC, here. 

Natasha The Great, here. 

The Future of American Innovation: A Conversation With Lina Khan

 Video here. 

Apple to allow web distribution for iOS apps in latest DMA tweaks

 Natasha The Great, here. 

SIMS: Meta’s actions threaten our society

 Toronto Sun, here. 

ANTIMONOPOLY NOW: A CONVERSATION ON PRACTICE AND THE ACADEMY WITH FTC CHAIR LINA KHAN

 Video here, 

Copyright as an Access Right: Concretizing Positive Obligations for Rightholders to Ensure the Exercise of User Rights

 C. Geiger, B. J. Jütte, here. 

Market Factors Relevant to Infant Formula Supply Disruptions 2022

 FTC here. 

Safeguarding the financial system's spare tyre: regulating non-bank retail lenders in the digital era

 BIS, here. 

Oh look, cracking down on Big Tech works. Brave, Firefox, Vivaldi surge on iOS

 The Register, here. 

The False Choice Between Digital Regulation and Innovation

 A. Bradford, here. 

Generative AI and Competition Policy ~ What is the Role of Competition Policy Toward Further Innovation ?

 Osaka Symposium, Presentations here. 

IKK 2024 - Bubdeskartellamt

 Videos here. 

Some direct links:

S. Giegold here. 

M. Vestager here. 

Panel: AI - Blessing or curse here. 

Panel: Abuse of dominance - What are we aiming at? here. 

Panel Merger control - Challenges and perspectives here. 

An Indian DMA taking shape?

 Report of the Committee on Digital Competition Law, here. 

ANTITRUST & AI SUPPLY CHAINS

 M. Stucke, A. Ezrachi, here.

Antitrust For Innovation: A Progress Report

 R. Gilbert, D. Melamed, here. 

DYNAMIC COMPETITION AND ANTITRUST: QUICK-LOOK INFERENCES FROM THE ANALYSIS OF BIG TECH’S R&D EXPENDITURE RATIOS

 J. Padilla et al., here. 

“Can Telecommunications Regulation Inform Emerging Regulatory Approaches To Generative AI?: An Initial Inquiry”

 DOJ, here. 

EU DATA ACT: NEW RULES ON DATA SHARING AND PORTABILITY OF CLOUD SERVICES NOW IN FORCE

Mayer/Brown, here. 

Full (Regulatory) Steam Ahead: Gatekeepers Issue the First Wave of DMA Compliance Reports

 A. Ribera Martinez, here. 

Challenging Big Tech in the Age of AI

 Public Knowledge, here. 

The Most Terrifying Words in Lina Khan’s Stand-Up Comedy Routine

 The Sling, here. 

Brussels to the Bay: How the DMA Transforms Digital Markets and Boosts Innovation

 EC, Video here. 

Competition and ‘Zeitenwende’

 S. Giegold, here. 

‘She’s going to prevail’: FTC head Lina Khan is fighting for an anti-monopoly America

 The Guardian, here. 

Elon Musk’s xAI to Open-Source Its Grok Chatbot, in Latest Swipe at OpenAI

 WSJ, here. 

A few words on digital mergers (Oh Freunde, nicht diese Töne)

 M. Vestager, here. 

Reflecting on 20 years of the EU Merger Regulation

 EC, here. 

Digital Markets Act: Apple und Google setzen einige Vorgaben nicht um

 vzbv, hier. 

Report on Competition Policy 2023

 EC, here. 

Commission Staff Report here. 

Interoperability in the Metaverse

 Videos here.

To comply with DMA, WhatsApp and Messenger will become interoperable via Signal protocol

 TechCrunch, here. 

C-604/22: IAB Europe

 CJEU, here. 

AWS follows Google in announcing unrestricted free data transfers to other cloud providers

 TechCrunch, here. 

II ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION LEGAL SERVICE 2024

 Video here. 

On the interplay between competition law and privacy: the impact of Meta Platforms case

 A. Gorecka, here. 

RETHINKING MY ECONOMICS

 A. Deaton, here. 

Apple’s exclusionary app store scheme: An existential moment for the Digital Markets Act

 J. Crémer et al., here. 

13 March 2024: the plenary of the European Parliament will vote on the AI Act

 Here. 

OECD Competition Open Day 2024

 Videos here.

‘Super-apps’ and the Digital Markets Act

 

Abstract

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) aims to ensure contestability and fairness in digital markets, particularly focusing on regulating Big Tech companies. The paper explores the DMA's capacity to address both current and future challenges in digital market contestability and fairness, spotlighting the trend towards platform integration and the potential rise of "super-apps" akin to WeChat and KakaoTalk. Specifically, it investigates WhatsApp, owned by Meta, as a gatekeeper that might expand its service offerings, integrating additional functionalities like AI and metaverse technologies. The paper discusses whether the DMA's obligations, such as mandated interoperability and data portability, can mitigate the emergent risks to market fairness and contestability from such integrations. Despite recognizing that the DMA has the potential to address many issues arising from platform integration, it suggests the necessity for adaptability and a complementary relationship with traditional antitrust law to ensure sustained contestability and fairness in evolving digital markets

[Very pleased to share with you, dear @Wavesblog Reader, my first draft (short paper because I had a word limit, submitted to a journal) and thankful for any comment you might have: simonetta.vezzoso@unitn.it]

Forced to Change: Tech Giants Bow to Global Onslaught of Rules

 NYTimes, here. 

DeepL translation of the Indonesian Law here. 

DMA Compliance Reports: Non-confidential "versions"

 

Alphabet;

Amazon;

Apple; 

ByteDance; 

Meta;

Microsoft - Windows Section 2 Annex - LinkedIn Section 2 Annex