Coalition for App Fairness, here.
Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Anti-American(s) Antitrust: Trump Antitrust
Just for a laugh: Anti-American Antitrust: How Foreign Governments Target U.S. Businesses | House Judiciary Committee Republicans.
Portuese's portrait of the DMA should haunt him for a while...
Monday, December 15, 2025
Saturday, December 13, 2025
Lina Khan on Warner Brothers
Comments are all ❤️❤️❤️ for her, nice to see! A class apart as antitrust enforcer.
Friday, December 12, 2025
Thursday, December 11, 2025
Disney Accuses Google of Using AI to Engage in Copyright Infringement on ‘Massive Scale’
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Europe's Tech Dependency
Bruegel, here.
(Talking about lobbying: Alexandra and Robin should perhaps ask...Who's financing Bruegel, BTW?)
Google adding more links in AI Mode, testing AI features for Google News
9To5Mac, here.
The usual playbook, AI edition!
Interview: Meet the competition lawyer taking Microsoft to task over its cloud licensing tactics
ComputerWeekly, here (Isa, again!).
Full transcript: POLITICO's interview with Donald Trump
Here.
[I watched it all, pretty weird - the journalist was amazing]
Tuesday, December 09, 2025
EU Probes Google Over Use of Online Content to Power AI
WSJ, here.
Laid-back piece by Edith. Exercise in gauging in which way the breeze (gale?) is blowing?
The DMA Lab #1: DMA Review | DMA & Geopolitics | Goals, Cases: with René Repasi & Niklas Brüggemann
Here.
We've been playing ourselves with the idea of a DMA Lab for more than a year...Competition!
[We didn't hear about Panelists/Hosts' conflicts of interest - no professional involvement, such as representing clients, at all?]
Commission opens investigation into possible anticompetitive conduct by Google in the use of online content for AI purposes
EC, here.
[NotebookLM's own DeepDive here, just for fun]
In our Article 19 Report we discussed this and how it could eventually translate into a DMA obligation here.
I'd add another aspect, if I may 😉: downstream products like NotebookLM having exclusive access to YouTube videos to produce content? Perhaps not a copyright infringement (derivative?) but what about competition in downstream markets for AI-related products?
AI Antitrust Amnesty in the US - What about in the EU?
In the US, here.
I posed the question this morning and received an answer within 30 minutes. That was efficient, thank you!
Monday, December 08, 2025
Sunday, December 07, 2025
On extracting yourself from the extractors
The great Elettra, here. Don't miss her!
Elettra gave a much appreciated guest lecture to us in Trento 4 (? must check) years ago - in our (comparitively) age of innocence...
Saturday, December 06, 2025
Friday, December 05, 2025
Thursday, December 04, 2025
"Computers were not intended to make judgement decisions"
BBC, 1970 [same year as the Hesse legislation] here.
We were on a very promising path, what happened since?
Meta to face competition probe over AI use in WhatsApp, Ribera confirms
Euractiv, here.
How are they going to coordinate with the Italian proceeding? Looking forward to interim measures!
Of course, also the DMA should already be updated - at least by delegated act (pity they didn't open any proceeding yet - as we discussed at our A19 Conference).
From a 2024 (time flies) article "it appears quite probable that some form of platform integration, potentially through the blending of AI or virtual worlds technologies in WhatsApp, may occur." No crystal ball required!
IPFS at Eurosky Live Berlin: Highlights From A Bright Future
R. Berjon, here.
And tomorrow (virtually) at Trento University.
Review of the EU Merger Guidelines – Stakeholder Workshop of 4th December 2025 and "Trento Choice" of relevant questions
Wednesday, December 03, 2025
The economics of copyright and AI
C. Peukert, here.
Whenever I see a "model" applied to policy, as a PhD economist I ask myself: do we really need it? What's the model obfuscating which would instead matter to policymakers?
Tuesday, December 02, 2025
Best contribution to the OECD panel "Artificial Intelligence and Competitive Dynamics in Downstream Markets"
Study on the next data frontier: generative AI, regulatory compliance and international dimensions
Final Report, for the EC, here.
Where you read: "Public initiatives such as Common European Data Spaces and GAIA-X are widely anticipated to improve data accessibility, but awareness and participation remain limited, especially among SMEs." - GAIA-X, seriously? How much did the EC pay for this Report?
Bundeskartellamt prüft Lösungsvorschläge von Apple im ATTF-Verfahren – Markttest gestartet
[I can't believe this is still ongoing, really]
Google deletes X post after getting caught using a ‘stolen’ AI recipe infographic
BleepingComputer, here.
[It's complicated]
Monday, December 01, 2025
A Variation-Selection-Adaptation Framework for the Digital Markets Act
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| AI generated - don't trust it ;-) |
S. Vezzoso, ORDO 2026.
Abstract: This paper examines the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) through the lens of an evolutionary economics framework structured around the concepts of variation, selection, and adaptation (VSA). It argues that the DMA represents a bold, systemic regulatory shift, motivated by the inadequacy of traditional antitrust enforcement to address entrenched digital dominance. By introducing the VSA framework, the paper offers a novel tool for evaluating how effectively the DMA promotes contestability— with innovation as the form of competition most at risk in digital markets. The framework is applied to the case of online search, with a focus on Alphabet, the only search engine designated as a gatekeeper to date. The analysis highlights the extent to which current DMA obligations promote variation (diversity), counter biased selection mechanisms, and enable effective adaptation among gatekeepers, challengers, other market participants, and regulators. It also identifies persistent gaps in regulatory design and implementation, suggesting that additional measures may be needed to fulfil the DMA’s stated ambitions. In doing so, the paper contributes both a structured analytical approach and critical insights to the ongoing evaluation and future development of the DMA.
Expanding Google Cloud’s Cross-Cloud Network with a groundbreaking AWS collaboration
Google, here.
During the A19 Conference, we discussed why there wasn't any ongoing DMA qualitative designation for the third hypescaler 🤔
Immediately after Mehta let Google escape, the company reconstituted its monopolization techniques in the generative AI space
M. Stoller, here.
In the US *only* - of course.......
Friday, November 28, 2025
Thursday, November 27, 2025
Secteurs de la syndication de résultats de recherche et de la publicité en ligne : l’Autorité de la concurrence rejette la saisine au fond et la demande de mesures conservatoires formulées par la société Qwant à l’encontre de Microsoft
Adlc, ici.
Tristan Harris, the ultimate (literally?) Cassandra
The Diary of a CEO, here.
If you listen carefully to Tristan Harris, it becomes crystal clear why the usual suspects are so opposed to the whole bunch of EU digital regulation that matters.
Path to European Competitiveness and Sovereignty? Ask OpenAI, Microsoft and Booking
Commenting on a CERRE Report, here.
Perhaps they also asked somebody else, later, but sorry: I can't watch any further.
Open Is Sovereign: Why Europe’s Digital Future Must Be Built on Global Open Source Ecosystems
Linux Foundation, here.
Coincidence? Google is increasingly closing Android, as we heard last week at the Article 19 Conference.
"Though still nascent, agentic AI could significantly reshape competition..."
OECD, here.
Tbd today, Trento U.
CO-OPERATIVE ANTITRUST IN REMEDY DESIGN
OECD, Background Paper here.
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Meta probed over whether it pushed AI tool onto WhatsApp users without consent
Independent, here.
[But the title is, well, wrong].
Rutger Bregman - Moral Revolution - (as censored by the BBC)
BBC, here.
I have listened to the whole thing, and the Q&A was, I suspect, the part I appreciated most. The "straight out of Silicon Valley" comments about Europe, forever regulating, never producing, felt rather surprising - if the world were that simple (that's why we need good historians with hindsight)! True, we do risk turning ourselves into a dusty, romantic museum, but only if we fail to make intelligent use *also* of our own heritage, including through digital tools that are not simply parachuted in from California but adapted to our needs.
And happily, a young ‘populist left’ has already emerged with exemplary standard-bearers such as Lina Khan among them.
Interim Measures re Meta AI in sight?
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| 25/11/2025 |
Tuesday, November 25, 2025
DMA: Encirclement Without End?
One must recognise that the DMA (and the DSA) are among the last bastions still standing at the moment, and that a possible Brussels Débâcle would carry profound, global implications. If we yield as Europeans, we yield also on behalf of all the other countries attempting to contain the power of the technological ogres. This Brussels Débâcle may take various forms and shapes. I do not expect a retreat, but I fear that the line may shift. Some impactful changes, adjustments and delays agreed behind closed doors, at the highest level of the Commission, remain invisible to us and significantly undermine the democratic position of us, the citizens of the European Union.
[In the meanwhile, Margrethe Vestager reacted to this frontal attack, among many others: serious stuff. And Teresa Ribeira too: strong words; Macron also onboard ]
Monday, November 24, 2025
Data Portability Can Restore Real Consumer Choice Between ‘Consent or Pay’ Offerings Online
Data Transfer Initiative, here.
Saturday, November 22, 2025
Friday, November 21, 2025
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
"Our" AI&fun panel at the Article 19 DMA Conference
Now that the programme has been officially released, I can say a word about Thursday’s panel, where I shall present a paper that is highly tentative: when I wrote it, it verged on science fiction, yet events have already overtaken it. One striking aspect of the panel is that we have four papers on artificial intelligence, which is noteworthy in itself. The perspectives are varied yet complementary. And while today the Commission opened three investigations in the cloud sector, our discussion moves further downstream: we consider also whether AI-related services should be expressly recognised as core platform services, which DMA obligations genuinely already apply to AI-related services , whether they can be regarded as adequate, whether the DMA should be even more ex-ante, etc.
I suspect the session will be lively.
Monday, November 17, 2025
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Friday, November 14, 2025
Messaging Interoperability: WhatsApp enables third-party chats for users in Europe
Meta itself, here.
A bit emotional myself, what about you?
Thursday, November 13, 2025
Autoridade da Concorrência: 2025 Lisbon Conference
Videos here.
Just in time for a relaxing Friday class: watching (and commenting on) a couple of panels with my Students tomorrow 🍿🍿🍿
The dilemmas of delegation
Ada Lovelace Institute, here.
Discussing a DMA draft paper next week in Brussels exploring related themes...
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Tuesday, November 11, 2025
Monday, November 10, 2025
Saturday, November 08, 2025
Friday, November 07, 2025
Disruptive Innovation and Antitrust
P. Larouche, A. de Streel, here.
Topic of my PhD in economics at fn. 6
Thursday, November 06, 2025
Microsoft superintelligence team promises to keep humans in charge
Semafor, here.
[So much wrong about this title that I wouldn't know where to start...]
AirPods Live Translation feature coming to the EU next month
9to5Mac, here.
How long before the next "product can't possibly be launched in the EU because of annoying digital regulation"?
Wednesday, November 05, 2025
Monday, November 03, 2025
Sunday, November 02, 2025
Saturday, November 01, 2025
Google dessine le monde : faut-il s’inquiéter ? Cartographie, pouvoir et dépendance numérique
Avec Sébastien Soriano (!), ici.
Prix nobel de l'économie 2025 (grillé) à l'Assemblée nationale
Vidéo ici.
Débat intéressant car le néo-schumpétérisme à la Aghion rencontre ici le populisme économique à la française, tant à droite qu’à gauche. Les autorités de concurrence devraient également y prêter attention : il ne suffit pas d’écarter ces voix en les qualifiant d’économiquement illettrées, ni de se retrancher derrière quelques écrits et affirmer que toutes les implications d’un modèle n’ont pas été pleinement prises en compte.
Alors qu’aux États-Unis, le mouvement néo-brandeisien a en partie intégré des revendications populistes et tenté de les traduire en actions concrètes de politique de la concurrence, en Europe nous en sommes restés bien éloignés jusqu’à présent. Les temps changeraient-ils ? Il existe une soif de réponses concrètes à de véritables problèmes ; c’est, en fin de compte, de cela que dépend la légitimité démocratique de la politique de concurrence.
Data Sharing Guidelines
ACM, here.
[Very useful also for teaching purposes! We worked extensively on the Data Act this semester - a bit too late for us though, we have since moved to other topics]
Friday, October 31, 2025
The "end of capitalism” or, rather, an intensification of capitalistic tendencies?
Ask Tommaso Valletti and others, here.
"Ordinary folk in the streets of London" at 16:00 totally impressive.
Thursday, October 30, 2025
International Criminal Court to ditch Microsoft Office for European open source alternative
Euractiv, here.
[Added value: no annoying, unsolicited "AI integration"]
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory
BBC, here.
[Disclosure: my better half worked 20+ y. for the EBU]
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Monday, October 27, 2025
Knowledge, technology, and growth: Joel Mokyr, Nobel laureate
CEPR, here.
Why they haven't matched him with a 'formal economist' or two dealing with innovation/knowledge for real (such as evolutionary economics), I wonder...
Bravi Aussies, what about our EU and national 'enforcers'?
Reuters, here.
A topic for the next DMA High Level Group too?
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Friday, October 24, 2025
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Monday, October 20, 2025
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
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ArsTechnica, here .
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T. Davies, here .
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Coalition for App Fairness, here.
-
EC, here . [NotebookLM's own DeepDive here , just for fun] In our Article 19 Report we discussed this and how it could eventually trans...
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BertHub.eu, here .
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M. Markovitz, here . Final Report, here .
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The NerdReich, here . [To be clear: not the name of a demanding ski slope up in Trento's mountains].
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Bloomberg, here .






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