What a Dutch Court Ruling Against Meta Signals for Private DSA Enforcement

 R. Jahangir, here.

Algorithmic Antitrust: California's New Pricing Law

 FKKS, here.

AI Act Single Information Platform

EC,  here.

Announcing DTI’s Data Trust Registry

 Here.

How Google's AI Overviews are affecting Australian news websites

 ABC, here.

How to Overturn an Oligarchy

 

M. Stoller, here. 

 

 

 

 

 

On this side of the Atlantic, the CMA: "It is plausible that to the extent Activision content is
added to Game Pass, the price of Game Pass subscriptions may increase
commensurately and therefore the purported benefit from the Merger may not
ultimately accrue to UK consumers to the extent claimed, or even at all" - so: price increase for UK consumers ok, because of added Activision content? 

The Supreme Court didn’t save Google from Epic, and now the clock is ticking

 The Verge, here. 

Market Study on Artificial Intelligence and Competition

Competition Commission of India, here. 

Litigating and Legislating Against Algorithmic Collusion | 2025 Tech Conference

 Video here. 

Fireside Chat with Barry Lynn, Open Markets Institute | 2025 Tech Conference

 Video here. 

2025 Lear Conference: Videos uploaded

 Here.

Teaching material à gogo for your classes, thank you Paolo!

Returning federal antitrust enforcement to a more hands-off approach, the very approach that allowed unchecked market power to take root?

 

Please, don't, Mr. President, here. 

OpenAI’s platform play

 Platformer, here

Italy becomes the first in Europe to set national AI rules

 JDSupra, here.

Action brought on 4 July 2025 – Meta Platforms v Commission (Case T-435/25)

 Here. 

I'd love to intervene 😊  

We Need to Break Up Big AI Before It Breaks Us

 Time, here. 

"Datenschutz (Opt-out statt Opt-in, Innovationsfreundlichkeit)" und weitere 'Weisheiten'

 Hier.

The overlooked front in the browser wars

 DuckDuckGo, here. 

Digital platform regulation: are we all included in the digital economy

 Bruegel, Video here. 

What is a digital ad tax?

 Brookings, here. 

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

 C. Doctorow, here. 

OpenAI promises more ‘granular control’ to copyright owners after Sora 2 generates videos of popular characters

 The Guardian, here. 

Who were those academics and other economists lavishly paid to say this would never happen, BTW?

 

Coordination and Power

 

F. Gernone, here.

This is a very basic AI generated video overview produced by Notebook LM - potentially lowering your barriers to entry (these days, experimenting using it with my Students and also with you, dear Wavesblog Readers). The paper offers antitrust folks still reliant on IO economics a different and original lens through which to view things — and that, in itself, is already something decidedly worthwhile!

Algorithmic pricing and competition in G7 jurisdictions

 OECD, here.

Amazingly timely, thank you! Next week topic...

 

 

Updated Compendium of approaches to improving competition in digital markets

 G7, here.

Meta won’t allow users to opt out of targeted ads based on AI chats

 ArsTechnica, here.

Jon Leibowitz and the FTC's role during the early Google Era

 The Monopoly Report, here. 

[Watchers, basically...] 

Court tells Meta to give Dutch users algorithm-free feed option

 DutchNews, here. 

Plumbers, Populists, and the Role of Public Opinion in Antitrust

 S. Sullivan, here. 

FTC accuses Zillow of paying $100 million to ‘dismantle’ Redfin

 The Verge, here. 

ECOSYSTEMS, ANTITRUST ERRORS & THE NUMERATOR BIAS

 Stucke&Ezrachi, here.

Territorial Control of Data and Compute in Generative AI: A New Paradigm of Competitive Advantage

 F. Marty, T. Warin, here.

SCiDA's podcast: Episode 1

 Here. 

Are AI Companies Cooking the Books? w/ Sarah Myers West

The Maybe, here.  

USA vs Google Ad Tech remèdes : céder ou fermer AdX, une question que se pose Google depuis 2020

 F. Masmi-Dazi, ici.

Meta to mine AI interactions to help target advertising - not in the EU

 FT, here.

Epic Games says Apple’s new install process cuts user drop-offs by 60%

 TechCrunch, here.

An Economy of AI Agents

 G. Hadfield et al., here.

Munich Regional I Court preliminarily indicates OpenAI liable for copyright infringement of song lyrics. Decision on Nov. 11, 2025

 Here.

Are the European TDM Exceptions Applicable to GenAI Training? Despite the Three-Step Test?

 M. Senftleben, here.

The Economics of the DMA: Insights from the European Commission’s Expert Workshop

 SCIDA, here.

[Disclosure: I submitted an evol econ paper to the conf but it was turned down - it happens, cheer up - soon in ORDO;  a very friendly lawyer was kind enough to describe the paper as groundbreaking - sure it isn't but I had fun writing it!]

Teresa Ribera at the Transatlantic Forum on GeoEconomics

 Video here.

A Proposed Framework for a "Buy European" Regulation of Strategic Digital Procurement

 Eurostack, here.

It's more regulation ;-)

How to Regulate the Cloud: A Blueprint to Address the Market Failures and National Security Risks of Cloud Computing

 CDN.Vanderbilt, here.

Data Act in der Praxis – „Game Changer“ oder „Rohrkrepierer“?

 Podcast, hier.

CNAM v. Sanofi

 Cour de cassation. ici.

Microsoft looks to build AI marketplace for publishers

 Axios, here. 

Big Tech addressing a market failure? What about dual roles? 

Nvidia's $100 billion OpenAI play raises big antitrust issues

 Reuters, here. 

I remember a time when these were the topics discussed in the EU too...

Response of Alphabet Inc. (Google) to European Commission consultation on the first review of the Digital Markets Act

 Here.

From Dashboards to Data Acquisition: Charting the Social Media Monitoring Market

 IDDP, here.

Unofficial translation of the Brazil DMA Bill

Here.

Why Meta Thinks It Can Challenge Apple in Consumer AI Devices

 WSJ, here.

The Digital Markets Act turns 1: one year of pushing for Device Neutrality

 FSFE, here. 

Joint Section Comment to the EC on their First Review of the Digital Markets Act

 ABA Antitrust, here. 

Sanzione per oltre 936 milioni complessivi a Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras e Tamoil per intesa restrittiva della concorrenza

 AGCM, here. 

If it's good enough for Big Oil and Big Tobacco, it's good enough for Cupertino.

 Infrequently.org, here. 

Meta to launch ad-free subscription to Facebook and Instagram in UK

 Independent, here. 

Sidelined UX Research: Lessons From Meta’s Senate Hearing

 here.

Judge Alsup grants preliminary approval of $1.5 billion settlement, largest in copyright history, in class action filed by Bartz v. Anthropic.

 ChatGPTiseatingtheworld, here.

Conference Debrief – Highlights from the UK Digital Markets Competition Regulation Forum 2025

 SCiDA, here.

Without a Payment Ban, What Can We Expect from the US v. Google Data Sharing Remedies?

 A. Cooper, here.

Latest iOS beta hints at notifications on non-Apple watches

 The Verge, here. 

Commission opens investigation into possible anticompetitive practices by SAP regarding maintenance and support services for its popular business management software

 EC, here. 

Consultation on the 2025 Review of the Digital Markets Act (DMA)

 SCIDA, here.

The Digital Markets Act is good for European consumers and must be protected: EU consumer groups’ response to Apple

 BEUC, here.

Electric Eyes

 Antimonopoly.ca, here.

AI Competition Law '25 a first survey

 P. Picht, here.

GERECHTSHOF AMSTERDAM: META AND 5(2) DMA

 Hier.

A clean, just and competitive European Industry Policy Conference 2025

 Video here. 

Como promover uma lei de concorrência digital justa no Brasil

 P. Bello et al., aqui.

How Google Paid the Media Millions to Avoid Regulatory Pressure

 TechPolicy, here.

Commission requests information under Digital Services Act from Apple, Booking.com, Google and Microsoft on financial scams

 EC, here. 

Sixth AI Pact webinar on the General-Purpose AI Models and Code of Practice

 DigitalEU, Video here.

Remedies Should Account for the Past to Protect the Future

 

Plaintiffs, here.

Remedies Trial Update, Septembeer 23, 2025: Four industry witnesses, and a somber reminder that this trial is about the future of journalism

 USvGooleAds, here. 

Examination of technology: Immersive technologies

Digital Platform Regulators Forum, here. 

Brazilian DMA at the UN General Assembly!

 President Lula, here. 

Digital agriculture

 EPO, here. 

Canada TikTok Privacy Investigation

DPAs, here.

California Finalizes Regulations to Strengthen Consumers' Privacy

 CPPA, here. 

FSFE’s Statement in Intervention: Apple v European Commission (Case T-1080/23)

 Here. 

Will Google’s AI Overviews Swallow the News?

 Preiskel & Co, here. 

De vervanging van regels door macht en de toenemende beïnvloeding van de vrije wil

 M. Snoep, hier. 

Inside the EU's Courtroom Playbook on Competition w/ Fernando Castillo de la Torre

 The Binary Agora, here. 

Appraising the Google Search Antitrust Remedies

 E. Hovenkamp, D. Melamed, here.

Even moderate "traditionalists" are unhappy...

Google Developer Verification Policy and the DMA

 F-Droid, here.

Smart resilience

 Human forward, here.

The treatment of innovation in EU merger control at the crossroads

 White & Case, here.

Tech went all in. Now what?

 

Here. 

It's Groundhog Day for a Google Breakup

 Big Tech on Trial, here. 

DMA: Apple's (first 5) waiver requests turned down, more to come?

 EC, decision here. 

Anything in the DMA preventing the EC from being flooded by Apple's waiver requests :-)?  

How Wikipedia Can Save the Internet With Advertising

 R. Berjon, here. 

How AI startups are fueling Google’s booming cloud business

TechCrunch, here.

N.B. "Neither Lovable nor Windsurf have signed a preferred cloud provider agreement" 

Why oh why this clarification ;-)? 

DOJ vs Google: Back to Court for Remedies to Break Digital Ads Monopoly

 K. Montoya, here. 

Remedies Trial Update, September 22, 2025: Google's proposed remedies are like "putting a band-aid on a severed limb"

USvGoogleAds, here. 

Making Europe an AI continent

 EPRS, here.

Everything you need to know about the closing stages of Google’s ad tech antitrust trial

 DigiDay, here.

Insider v. Google

 Here.

Google brings Gemini in Chrome to US users, unveils agentic browsing capabilities, and more

 TechCrunch, here

You had one job. Judge Mehta (actually, three): to fix the online search market. 

Google and PayPal team up on agentic commerce

TechCrunch, here.

Safeguarding collective redress: the ECJ’s ASG 2 Judgment and its implications for antitrust damages in Germany

 Hausfeld, here.

Microsoft and Google Under Scanner For Clubbing AI with office suite in India!

 Financial Express, here. 

Crafting the Regulatory Ecosystem for AI: Competition 2.0

 N. Cunha Rogrigues, here. 

Goals of the AfCFTA Competition Protocol Digital Market Competition Regulations: Lessons from South Africa’s Online Intermediation Platform Market Inquiry (OIPMI), the EU’s DMA and the US Experiences with Digital Platform Giants

V. Kedogo Kigwiru and Z. Georgieva, here.

“One Year After the Draghi Report" Keynote address by Professor Mario DRAGHI

 Video here.

Draghi's speech here. 

Von der Leyen's speech here.

Remarks at 2025 Anti-Monopoly Summit

 L. Khan, here. 

Video of the Summit, day 1 here.

Künstliche Intelligenz als soziotechnische Entwicklung

 H. Ruschemeier, hier.

Penske v. Google

 Here.

How to Build a Post-American Liberal Order

P. O'Brien, here.  

International Competition Law: My Syllabus, Unbound

 Course Description

Competition policy has long been regarded as an essential framework for any economy based on market exchange. Its logic is not confined to capitalist systems; rather, it establishes the conditions under which markets can function at all. Traces of such principles can already be discerned in the Roman world two millennia ago, anticipating many features of modern regimes. In recent years, competition has also been valued as a mechanism for stimulating innovation across a wide range of fields, extending far beyond its important role in driving price rivalry.

Unlike other areas of law, there has never been a codified body of international competition law. Yet practice has always carried a strong cross-border dimension. The case of Google in Europe is emblematic: multiple abuses of a dominant position by a U.S. company not only harmed European consumers but also affected European firms, as well as other companies operating within the EU. Many of the latter were themselves U.S. firms.

Traditionally, transatlantic cooperation between the European Union and the United States provided an anchor for international enforcement. These two jurisdictions have also been at the origin of several international initiatives in the field, most notably the creation and promotion of the International Competition Network. The OECD, though a more limited “club” of states, has likewise played an influential role in shaping cross-jurisdictional competition policy.

In recent months, however, the pace of history has accelerated. Established alliances have weakened, autocracies have flourished, and new partnerships among democratic blocs are bound to shape global competition policy in novel ways.

This course begins with a brief historical excursus before moving swiftly to the current order. The beginning of modern legislation in the field of competition policy is usually identified with the enactment of the Sherman Act in the United States in 1890, often regarded as the foundational statement of modern antitrust principles. These principles directly influenced the provisions of the Treaty of Rome, which founded the European Economic Community in the late 1950s. Competition was enshrined there into core legal provisions, as it was seen as an important tool to achieve the European single market—a pivotal project, all of which was to be based firmly on the rule of law.

In the closing decades of the twentieth century, competition policy spread widely, with antitrust legislation being adopted in almost every jurisdiction, including China. Yet rather than being strengthened, it often lost force under the prevailing neoliberal ideology. That system rested on a stylised belief that markets tended to function well on their own, requiring only minimal intervention in cases of market failure. The result was a competition policy that became hesitant, overly cautious, and in many respects ineffective.

Today, however, we are entering a post-neoliberal phase. This shift poses new challenges for competition policy, which must be re-imagined and made more effective in order to confront the multiplication of monopolies, particularly in key sectors such as digital technologies and global platforms.

The course will adopt a pragmatic, case-based approach, relying on inductive reasoning rather than abstract theory. From the outset, students will be actively engaged with leading cases and encouraged to draw broader lessons from them. Class sessions will provide ample opportunity for discussion and group work. The material provided will focus on case analysis and critical reflection, always with an eye to the broader context of profound change. What has been done in the past may prove of limited use for the future, and it is precisely this transition that the course aims to address.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Understand what competition policy is and how it is designed to shape the functioning of a market economy.
• Recognise how the principles of competition policy are being transformed in light of the digital economy, the growing role of data as a source of value, and the rise of AI.
• Apply these principles to future-oriented scenarios, whether from the perspective of a business, a policy-making role, or a consultancy context.
• Use competition policy concepts in a strategic way, linking theory to practical challenges.
• Identify avenues for further study and research in competition law and policy.
•  

Assessment

Active participation is both mandatory and strongly encouraged, as it forms an integral part of the final grade. Students will be expected to contribute through presentations and small group assignments conducted throughout the course.

The final examination will be written ("paper and pen") and divided into two parts:

• a theoretical section with three open-ended questions;
• a case-based section, consisting of one question relating to a case discussed during the course.

Course Materials and Weekly Assignments

There is no single textbook for this course. Instead, students will receive weekly assignments consisting of readings and case materials. Each class session will build directly on this material, which together forms the required study corpus for the final exam. Weekly study and active participation are therefore not only encouraged but are in themselves the most effective preparation for the assessment.

Frequently Asked Questions: Data Act

 EC, here.

Dynamic Effects in Merger Control

 I. Lianos et al., here. 

Essence of "America First Antitrust"? Lobbyists directly replacing conflicted economists,

 Chez Cristina, here.

OMI Urges Court to Require Google Divestitures in Ad Tech Monopoly Case

 Here.

Interplay between the DSA and the GDPR: EDPB adopts guidelines

 Here.

Authors Guild, American Publishers Assn. CEOs listened to Judge Alsup’s scrutiny of their roles at settlement hearing in Bartz case. Then issued statements afterwards.

 Here. 

Cambio de reglas: la Data Act entra en juego para democratizar el mercado de los datos

 CincoDiás, aquì. 

European Data Union Strategy: how to write a new rulebook for Europe's digital values

 Video here.

Commission accepts commitments offered by Microsoft to address competition concerns related to Teams

 Here.

And Microsoft? Relieved, here.

Was der EU-Data-Act für Start-ups bedeutet

 Handelsblatt, hier. 

The Dwindling Law in Article 102 TFEU

 F. Castillo de la Torre, here.

Bridge Blueprint: Datenschützer stellen neues Papier vor

Hier.

Investment and competition over the business lifecycle

 CMA, here. 

Epic Games, Inc v Apple Inc [2025] FCA 900

 AU Federal Court, here. 

Google scraps some cloud data transfer fees in EU and UK

 Reuters, here. 

Strategic Foresight Report 2025

 EC, here. 

Digital Sovereignty Requires More Than Just European Tech

E. Bendinelli, here.  

Judge Alsup Blasts $1.5 Billion Anthropic AI Copyright Settlement (2)

 Bloomberg Law, here. 

[The Judge who learned how to code - Oracle v. Google]

Digital Markets Act Data related obligations sub-group to the High-Level Group for the Digital Markets Act

 5th Meeting, Minutes here. 

Google can’t have it both ways.

 SearchEngineLand, here.

PUBMATIC SUES GOOGLE OVER DIGITAL ADVERTISING MONOPOLY

 PubMatic, here.

Complaint here.

Google admits the open web is in ‘rapid decline’

 The Verge, here.

AI surveillance should be banned while there is still time.

 DuckDuckGo, here.

Ideas Have Consequences: The Impact of Law and Economics on American Justice

 E. Ash et al., here. 

A Judge Just Decided to Let Google Keep Breaking the Law

 J. Newman, here. 

Getting ready for the teaching semester: first slide (International Competition Policy Course)

 

Why Google Got Off Easy

 J. Kanter, here. 

¿Dónde está Teresa Ribera?

 Euractiv, here. 

PLAINTIFFS’ PROPOSED FINAL JUDGMENT, GOOGLE ADTECH

 Here.

Gatekeeper Data Portability APIs: Few Good, Tons of Bad and Ugly

 Code Policy, here.

Our founding Treaties, our laws and our core values are not up for debate

T. Ribera, here. 

Press Release, here.  

The problem of monopoly': Why Google's light anti-trust penalties could pose a dilemma for Canada

 Financial Post, here. 

War, trade, and antitrust

Bruegel Annual Meetings | 3-4 September 2025, 

Video here. 

Mario Monti said that Teresa Ribera should've considered resigning after what happened on Monday. On Friday, coup de théâtre: big fine and possible structural remedies. What happened really during this rather defining week for the EU? 

The Limits of Antitrust Remedies in the Google Search Case

 M. MacCarthy, here.

AI Act Guide

 NL Gov, here.

Chez Oles, discussing Art. 5(2) DMA

 

Video here. 

Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner

 WSJ, here. 

Also here.

Wall Street, Google, and Trump's DOJ celebrating

 Here.

Surrender a pair of shoes today and who knows what you are going to give up tomorrow?

 FT, here.

Big Tech’s political power has been channelled through the market. By now, we shoud've learned our lesson. AI technologies imposed on consumers and business users are new forms of intermediation. Left to well known dynamics, enshittification is inevitable. US citizens and consumers have no choice, but is it what we want for the EU? Again? 

AI quietly mediates our world

 BBC, here.

New cloud and AI development Act

 Public submissions, here.

EU's pace is utterly inadequate, in these changing times. What to do? 

Contested Ground: Early Competition and Market Dynamics in Generative AI

 CRAI, here.

No need to worry, everything's just fine. Ask Big Tech and AI conflicted economists! 

Luckily, these "studies" are increasingly getting the attention they deserve. 

National Development and Reform Commission's August press conference

 Transcript here.

Mexico's neoliberal period over - and competition enforcement strengthened?

GCR, here.

A real commitment to economic populism require a willingness to make rich and powerful people upset, right?”

 UnHerd, with L. Khan, here.

Google set to face modest EU antitrust fine in adtech investigation, sources say

 Reuters, here.

The crawl-to-click gap: Cloudflare data on AI bots, training, and referrals

 The Cloudfare Blog, here.

Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater Delivers Remarks to the Ohio State University Law School

 Speech here.

Waiting for Judge Mehta's remedies...

Lina Khan recently reminded us that antitrust is “pro-growth” because it clears away private choke points. Europe has written that logic into law through the DMA; the US still waits on individual judges to prise open markets. Mehta’s decision (from here, at some point) will tell us whether American enforcement can rise to the challenge—or whether the choke points will remain firmly in place, and further expand into the gatekeepers AI age. 

Inside the Lobbying Blitz Over Colorado's AI Law

 TPP, here.

Google kneecaps indie Android devs, forces them to register

 The Register, here.

Anthropic users face a new choice – opt out or share your chats for AI training

 TechCrunch, here.

EuroStack: Enough Contemplation, but also Enough Straw Mannerism

 The Eurostack, here.

[Interestingly, straw mannerism has been the preferred tactic also against DMA supporters - plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose]

BREAKING UP WITH BIG TECH

 Amnesty International, here.

EU speed-learning how to bull-fight with Trump?

T. Ribera, here. 

T. Breton, here and here. 

And, finally, H. Virkkunen, here (on her favourite social network).

Lina Khan: “You can only undo so much in three and a half years”

 Newstatesman, here., 

Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action

 ArsTechnica, here.

Additional AI questionnaire to the first DMA review

Here. 

About the DMA Review and the first submission see here and here.

Brazil judge grants injunction against soy moratorium suspension

 Reuters, here.

President Trump is kindly invited to our DMA Conference. Thank you.

Mr President,

Perhaps it is all a misunderstanding. Our EU laws are not meant to punish your most prized tech companies, but to secure contestability and fairness in European digital markets. In your own language, it is about levelling the playing field, making markets great again, and ensuring that everyone gets, as you would put it, a fair deal.

In the spirit of cultivating a more balanced understanding in our transatlantic intercourse, we would be delighted to welcome you to our forthcoming conference on the Digital Markets Act, in person or online. There you will hear from independent researchers—a species now sadly endangered in the United States—that the DMA is not contrived to screw your crown jewels, but to build European digital markets on principles rather different from those across the Atlantic, namely firmly rooted in contestability and fairness.

For years we in Europe played the dutiful vassal, scarcely noticing the role, nodding along while our digital industries were subdued and our consumers cheerfully milked. Only recently, as one of our leading thinkers put it, has our faith in this US promoted version of neoliberalism been broken—and here too, Mr President, your role was not negligible. We now see our dependencies and chains—bound to technologies devised elsewhere, with embedded values ofter far from our own.

Thank you for your kind attention. We look forward to your prompt feedback.

Kindest regards

Elon Musk’s xAI Sues Apple and OpenAI, Alleging They Are ‘Monopolists’

 WSJ, here. Here.

Draghi's Rimini Speech: Game Over for Europe?

 Here. Video here.

It seems that the antitrust authorities now find themselves caught between hammer and anvil. On the one side, their governments may bow to Trump’s policy line, dismantling digital ex-ante legislation in the process. The clearest cases are South Korea and, quite possibly, India. On the other side comes Draghi, declaring the world order over—with obvious consequences for the international role of independent competition authorities which were established as part of the neoliberal package. Truly, interesting times lie ahead. The EU "adapted" to that age too, as Draghi reminded us (more economic approach, anyone?), but it needs to change again. Quickly. 

Zur Abhängigkeit deutscher Unternehmen von den Clouddiensten ausländischer Anbieter

 Bundesregierung, hier.

Urteil: Landgericht untersagt Google Gmail-Bevorzugung bei Android-Einrichtung

 Heise.de, hier. 

BRIEF FOR THE AMERICAN ANTITRUST INSTITUTE AS AMICUS IN SUPPORT OF EPIC

 Here.

Why Countries Must Fight For Digital Sovereignty

 C. Rikap, here.

Digitale Ohnmacht – Deutschland im Bann von Big Tech

 ARD, hier.

Springer-Chef Döpfner: Heikle Nähe zu Musk, Zuckerberg & Co

 ARD, hier.

Meta urged to ban child-like chatbots amid Brazil’s safety concerns

 DigWatch, here. 

Judge says Amazon must disclose its research funding to economists, academics and think tanks as part of a class action lawsuit.

Motion to compel, here.

Order granting motion to compel, here.

This is Lina Khan's article BTW, from Wavesblog archives.

[What about an academic who writes an economic paper "recommending caution" from enforcers - exculpating Amazon's self-preferencing - and a few days after publication starts working for Amazon. Does it count as external or internal? 

More fundamentally: does this type of intellectual capture work like this? Amazon supplies data (and money), friendly IO economists in academia supply theories - models, and the outcomes neatly reinforce the economics that defend entrenched power? Huge ROI possible.

[Possibly, however, the real problem of  this type economics is that it's used by Big Tech as a distraction. [Spend precious time debating models - like Romans were doing over entrails? - instead of devoting time and efforts observing and trying to understand the complexities of the technological world and their societal implications. Clearly, we'd need a different type of social science for that]].

What happened?

 

Google updates terms for app marketplace following EU pressure

 

Euronews, here. 

Virtual (ASCOLA) Townhouse Meeting With Lina Khan

  September 4, 10-11 am Eastern Time, here to sign up. 

No abuse of dominant position by Meta, per NCA in Argentina

 Aquì. 

Experts React to Reuters Reports on Meta's AI Chatbot Policies

 TechPolicyPress, here.

AI openness: A primer for policymakers

 OECD, here.

The power of (the request of) interim measures? Players free to participate in the DIHL competition

 Belgian competition authority, here.

Court decides "Pay or Okay" on DerStandard.at is illegal

 noyb, here.

Now anyone can pay for a Substack subscription in iOS

 On Substack, here.

The Weaponized World Economy

 H. Farrell, A. Newman, here.

How Open is today’s “Open Web”?

 Developes Alliance, podcast here.

AI IS A MASS-DELUSION EVENT

 C. Warzel, here.

The Rule of Law Versus the Rule of Lobbyists

 R. Alford, here.

Videos here.

Not a systemic problem, bur rather a personnel problem that can be fixed - he says. We also heard only four months ago how Trump II Antitrust was going to be wonderful, here. Allow me a grain of scepticism. 

Google admits anti-competitive conduct involving Google Search in Australia

 ACCC, here.

Should Europe wean itself off US tech?

BBC, here.

FTC to suspend push to regulate US platform firms amid trade risk

 The Korea Times, here.

Meta’s AI rules have let bots hold ‘sensual’ chats with kids, offer false medical info

 Reuters, here.

The New AI Data Trade, Part 1: Cashing In on AI

 WSJ, podcast here.

From Robber Barons to Bezos: Is History Repeating Itself?

 R. Reich, Video here. 

Chat Templates

 Asimov's Addendum, here. 

Rechtbank Amsterdam, and the DMA

 Hier and here.

What do we need? An EuroSweeney!

 

Consciously Uncoupling from Silicon Valley w/ Cori Crider

The Maybe, Podcast  here.

BRAZILIAN ANTITRUST REGULATOR LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION AGAINST MICROSOFT OVER OPERA ACCUSATIONS

 Bricscompetition, here.

India’s Digital Competition Bill: Innovation, Regulation & Global Lessons

 ASCOLA India, here.

Cecilia Rikap: »Wir alle produzieren KI, aber nur einige Wenige profitieren«

 C.Rikap, here.

The head of ChatGPT on AI attachment, ads, and what’s next

 Decoder, here.

Google pushes AI into flight deals as antitrust scrutiny, competition heat up

TechCrunch, here. 

Google ‘Shell Game’ Shields Executive Lobbying from Public View

 TPP, here. 

Letter to DOJ: Break Google’s Ad Tech Monopoly and Request Restitution to News Publishers for Lost Revenue

 Center for Journalism and Liberty, here.

Call for Submissions: Digital Competition Conference 2026

 KGI, here. 

Statement on Revocation of Biden-Harris Executive Order on Competition

 DOJ Antitrust Division, here.

And so ends one of the most interesting experiments of Biden-era antitrust, that had begun delivering tangible results for the very American people whom Trump never misses a chance to screw over. 

Jonathan Kanter on Perplexity’s bid for Chrome, Musk’s threats against Apple and Trump’s export tax

 CNBC, here.

No, The Tunney Act Won’t Save Democracy

 D. Bush, here. 

An Indian undertaking filed an antitrust case against Google 15 y. ago and the case is still ongoing

 From this interesting India ASCOLA webinar, hopefully recording available soon. Why was their DMA "frozen"? 

The Limits and Promise of Global Antitrust Law

 A. Bradford, A. Chilton, and K. Linos, here. 

Weaponizing Antitrust and Regulation Will Hurt US Consumers

 D. Moss, here. 

Jorge Padilla: Economics of Competition Policy | Competition Litigation as a Chessboard | Hard Cases

 Chez Oles, here. 

OLG Schleswig-Holstein: Antrag auf Erlass einer einstweiligen Verfügung gegen Meta wegen Verwendung von Nutzerdaten als KI-Trainingsdaten mangels Dringlichkeit abgelehnt

 Beckmann und Norda, hier. 

Perplexity Makes Longshot $34.5 Billion Offer for Chrome

 WSJ, here. 

Japan’s largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, sues AI startup Perplexity for copyright violations

 NiemanLab, here. 

Epic wins cases against Apple and Google in Australia

 Gtlaw, here. 

An AI Replay of the Browser Wars, Bankrolled by Google

 Bloomberg, here.

How AI-Driven Search May Reshape Democracy, Economics, and Human Agency

 C. Pattison et al., here.

Businesses can use your online data to overcharge you. What can customers do?

 NPR, here.

Wie energisch greift die EU gegen Big Tech durch?

 ARD, Tagesschau hier.

The proposed ex-ante regime downgraded to a market study in India: Big Win for Big Tech

 FE, here.

That was soon after South Korea's decision to dump its DMA too. Big Tech in Asia is likely celebrating, with Trump's support. By the way, how effective and influential are independent civil society orgs and academics in those jurisdictions? 

More post-mortem (of the Draft Digital Competition Bill) next 13 August, 14.30 CET here. 

Emerging Antitrust Implications for "Fact Checking” Content

 PerkinsCoie, here.

AI Compute Sovereignty: Infrastructure Control Across Territories, Cloud Providers, and Accelerators

 Z. Hawkins, here.

9 ways DuckDuckGo's Search Assist Differs from Google’s AI Overviews

 DuckDuckGo, here.

Apple’s lock on iPhone browser engines gets a December deadline

 The Verge, here.

Should UK private competition enforcement be dismantled as well?

 UK Gov, here.

Reminder: a Labour Government. 

Japan: Apple Must Lift Browser Engine Ban by December

 OWA, here.

Thousands of hotels in Europe to sue Booking.com over ‘abusive’ practices

 The Guardian, here. 

Yep, agreed - since 2016 here. 

Opinion: McGrath must take on giants of social media

 J. Ryan, here. 

‘I Feel Like I’m Going Crazy’: ChatGPT Fuels Delusional Spirals

 WSJ, here. 

Building Public Compute for the Age of AI

 Lawfare, here. 

Google vs. Perplexity fight plays out in India as AI battle intensifies

 RestofWorld, here. 

The Urgent Need For Revolutionizing Economic Statistics

 D. Coyle, here. 

["...if, in the not-too-distant future, my personal AI agent conducts affairs on my behalf with my bank’s AI bot, is that valuable economic activity? How should it be measured in any case?]

Cloud: "...competitors aren't able to do the competitive thing we like about capitalism"

DHH, here.

 

Re: Investigate Meta's de facto vertical acquisition of Scale AI

 

Here. 

Qwant and Ecosia debut Staan, a European search index that aims to take on Big Tech

 TechCrunch, here. 

noyb survey: only 7% of users want Meta to use their personal data for AI

 Here.

Digital Sovereignty and resisting the tech giants w/ Cecilia Rikap

Politics Theory Other, Podcast here.

How Big Cloud becomes Bigger: Scrutinizing Google, Microsoft, and Amazon's investments

D. Gray Widder, N. Kim, here.

See also here [if data correct: Google, Microsoft and Amazon investing *a lot* in the UK].

Russia Builds a New Web Around Kremlin’s Handpicked Super App

 MSN, here. 

Europe’s tech sovereignty watch

 Proton, here. 

"When a company chooses an email service, it often uses the entire suite." 

Take Back Our Digital Infrastructure To Save Democracy

 TechDirt, here. 

From Millions To Billions — Johannes Ernst — FediCon 2025

 Video here. 

Meta's vision: Shimmering Shades of a Cage?

 Run Data Run, here. 

OpenAI's GPT-OSS

 Run Data Run, here. 

How Brazil's innovative 'Pix' payment system is angering Trump and Zuckerberg

 France24.com, here.

Totally disagree with the myopic economist's comment 😊

OpenX v. Google

Here.

Curbing Google’s Dominance: The UK’s First Test of Its New Digital Competition Powers [Promising?]

 KGI, here.

Well...Problematic to say the least is "making its next steps contingent on the decisions of a US district court." 

Nextcloud-CEO: “Digitale Souveränität ist für mich nicht gelöst”

 Computerwoche.de, hier.

Submission on Proposed SMS Guideline from an Independent Media Alliance

 Here.

Japan: Regulator takes aim at app store - as in Europe.

Heise.de, here. 

Guidelines here.  

The Guidelines are essential reading. Not just from a European vantage point, and not merely as part of a deepening dialogue between the EU and Japan. It matters equally for jurisdictions already exploring DMA-like regimes, and for others now stirred into action.

From what I’ve seen so far, this may well be the first unmistakable success of the DMA’s extraterritorial footprint. A quiet vindication of the bold choices made by the Commission and co-legislators since 2020. No legal instrument is flawless, of course. But if others now refine what we’ve built into the DMA, there should be a clear and iterative path to integrate such improvements.