ECN DMA Conference in Amsterdam: This is not a de-briefing.

 

The conference unfolded under the quintessential Amsterdam weather—perfectly sunny and temperate. The venue was notably accessible and comfortable, which, coupled with its considerable distance from the city’s main attractions (a city where, full disclosure, my husband was born), ensured that attendance remained high throughout the event. The dessert buffet was quite impressive, matched only by the quality of the snacks provided during the post-conference reception.

From a substantive standpoint, the conference aimed to showcase the potential of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) to the business community. I can personally attest to the presence of CEOs from a diverse array of small to medium-sized enterprises, not just from Europe. Naturally, there was a risk that discussions might veer towards the non-compliance of gatekeepers; however, I believe this was mitigated, at least to a point. The presentations and ensuing discussions were constructive, both in the plenary sessions and the breakout rooms.

While I'm not sure if new business ideas directly stemming from the DMA emerged, the conference certainly brought to light several research topics (see our call for papers here). It was particularly intriguing to note the presence of investors interested in enterprises that could benefit from the DMA. Remember, navigating the DMA is a marathon, not a sprint. Fingers crossed.

M. Vestager, speech here.

The DMA, A short guide for tech challengers here. 

My X posts, unrolled here.

Apple Intelligence Features Not Coming to Europe at Launch Due to [unwillingness to comply with the DMA and most interesting AI features not launched until 2025 in any case]

 MacRumors, here.

DMA - Review of Apple's Compliance Proposal

 Open Web Advocacy, here.

BOOKING HOLDINGS / ETRAVELI GROUP

 Case M.10615, here.

Fostering a Federated AI Commons ecosystem

 T20 Policy Briefing, here.

Calculating Empires - A Genealogy of Technology and Power Since 1500

 K. Crawford and V. Joler, here.

Kenya: Watchdog now goes after tech giants with law review

 The Standard, here. 

(Disclosure: consulting for Article 19 until Isa comes back, and worked with others on the submission 😎 - great experience for an academic to work a bit for civil society, highly recommended and also necessary, given the current situation)

Tech industry groups oppose plans for digital competition law

 Hindustan Times, here.

Existence, Antecedents and Consequences of Non-Compliance in Mobile App Markets

 R. Kesler, here.

Two decades of personal data protection. What next? EDPS 20th Anniversary

EDPS 20th Anniversar, Book here. 

The Promise and Perils of Human Rights for Governing Digital Platforms: Symposium Introduction

 TechPolicyPress, here.

Transatlantic Dialogue: areas of convergence

 DOJ, here.

How the EU’s DMA is changing Big Tech: all of the news and updates

 The Verge, here.

EBU publishes “strategic asks” on generative AI and media

 BroadbandTVNews, here.

REDISCOVERING ADAM SMITH

 M. Holyoak, here.

Learning from the EU’s Mistakes: What To Do About Google’s Dominance in Search

 T. Cowen et al., here.

How to master Europe's digital infrastructure needs

 Internet Society, here.

We put the Google Finance link first

 Google, video here.

The Hacking of Culture and the Creation of Socio-Technical Debt

 e-flux Journal, here.

What’s All the Fuss About Antitrust?

 ACS, here.

The alarm bells are ringing: Competition is the solution to the productivity crisis - in Canada

 M. Boswell, here. 

Video here.

SCiDA Podcast on the DMA!

 Here.

UBS/Credit Suisse: FINMA schliesst Kontrollverfahren ab

 FINMA, hier.

Africa: The need for a new competition policy approach in digital economies

 F. Wang'ombe Kariuki, R,.Mazer, here.

Wettbewerbsbehörde beantragt Geldbuße gegen Brau Union

 ORF, hier.

RTL/DPG: Vergunning aanvragen

 ACM, Beslissing in NL and E-DeepL.

Meta pauses plans to train AI using European users’ data, bowing to regulatory pressure

 TechCrunch, here.

How Big Tech Is Killing Innovation

 M. Lemley, M. Wensley, here.

Mario Draghi: An Industrial Strategy For Europe

 M. Draghi, here.

Procompetitive Industrial Policy – Note by Italy

 At the OECD, here.

Wettbewerbsrecht in der digitalen Transformation

 H. Schweitzer Video (2023)  hier.

Antitrust Policy and Artificial Intelligence: Some Neglected Issues

 C. Rikap, here.

Heike Schweitzer (RIP) on "How to Fix a Failing Art. 102 TFEU"

Video here.

Pre-print Paper here (advance article published by JECLAP on the day she died, here)

2023 Presentation at the "Professorentagung" hier (Hintergrundpapier des Bundeskartellamtes hier)

2024 Milton Handler Lecture on Antitrust: Bill Baer on Competition Policy and Enforcement

 Video here.

Procompetitive Industrial Policy

 EU at the OECD, here.

Monopolisation, Moat Building and Entrenchment Strategies

 US at the OECD, here. And the EU, here.

The Evolution of the Case Law on ‘Abuse’ of Dominance in EU Competition Law

 P. Akman, audio here. 

The impact of the EU General data protection regulation on product innovation

 K. Blind et al. here. 

Pay or Okay coercion or a fair deal

 CPDP.ai, video herehere. 

Fifty Years of the Brussels-New York Connection

 EC and Fordham, video herehere. 

Entretien avec Shoshana Zuboff : les mutations du capitalisme de surveillance à l'ère de l'IA

 France Culture, Podcast ici. 

Opinion on Meta’s reference offer published in March 2024 to facilitate WhatsApp interoperability under Article 7 of the Digital Markets Act

 BEREC, herehere. 

Governing Digitization in Public Interest

 F. Bria, herehere. 

What Is Bold, Old, and Necessary about the DOJ’s Lawsuit Against Live Nation-Ticketmaster

 J. Kwoka and Tommaso, here. 

AI governance in India – law, policy and political economy

 D. Joshi, herehere. 

Three Algorithms in a Room

 L. Goldstein, herehere. 

BMW, Mercedes, Thyssenkrupp und VW dürfen zum Erwerb von bestimmten Technologielizenzen gemeinsam verhandeln

 Bundeskartellamt, hierhier. 

Intelligence artificielle : la CNIL poursuit ses travaux pour une IA innovante et respectueuse de la vie privée

 CNIL, iciici. 

EX-ANTE VERSUS EX-POST IN COMPETITION LAW ENFORCEMENT: BLURRED BOUNDARIES AND ECONOMIC RATIONALE

 P. Bougette & Friends, herehere. 

Auswirkungen von KI auf die Meinungsvielfalt und Regulierungsansätze

 KEK, hierhier. 

50 YEARS OF THE GERMAN MONOPOLIES COMMISSION

 D'Kart, here. 

Where it all began: The Bundeskartellamt’s Meta case

 Germany at the OECD, here.

Mass Surveillance in Digital Markets Raises Many Privacy and Competition Concerns

 US at the OECD, here.

The intersection between competition and data privacy

 OECD, Background Note here.

Apple has drawn a fuzzy line about what counts as console emulation on iPhone

 AppleInsider, here.

The Digital Fixer

 

Part I, Part II, and Part III.

New Industrial Policy, Competitiveness, Competition: Framing the Trade-Offs

 CEPR, video here.

BRICS in the digital economy: Competition Policy in Practice (2nd Report)

 Here.

Ecosystem Theories of Harm in EU Merger Enforcement

 D. Despoina, here.

Kenya targets Big Tech with new antitrust law

 TechCabal, here. 

The slipstream strategy: How high-status OEMs coopete with platforms to maintain their digital extensions' edge

 G. Reischauer et al., here. 

Competition policy in the Biden administration: Translating campaign poetry into governing prose

 B. Baer, here.. 

Commission calls on 18 Member States to comply with the EU Data Governance Act

 EC, here. 

The Evolving Role of Non-Price Competitive Parameters in EU Merger Review

 Norton Rose Fulbright, here. 

Fairness and contestability in the provision of software application stores services

 J. Padilla, here. 

Vertical Interoperability in Mobile Ecosystems: Will the DMA Deliver (What Competition Law Could Not)?

 G. Colangelo, A. Ribera Martínez, herehere. 

How a DOJ [IO] Economist Approaches Antitrust in America

Odd Lots, herehere.  

Harmful Online Choice Architecture

 CERRE Report, here.

Assessing India’s Ex-Ante Framework for Competition in Digital Markets

 V. Kathuria, here.

The Digital Services Act Meets the AI Act: Bridging Platform and AI Governance

 TechPolicy.Press, here.

Devising a trajectory towards a just and fair future: the identity of data protection in times of AI

 EDPS, here.

Pro-competitive industrial policy

 OECD, here.

Yann LeCun: AI Dynamics and Regulation

 Video here.

Taxonomy of Human Rights Risks Connected to Generative AI

UN B-Tech Project, here.

Privacy EU’s ChatGPT taskforce offers first look at detangling the AI chatbot’s privacy compliance

 Natasha The Great, here.

CDT EU Hosts DSA Civil Society Roundtable

 CDT, here.

Internet shutdowns in 2023: a global overview

 Access Now, here.

Ecosystem Theories of Harm: A Deeper Dive

 OECD, BIAC, Video here.

Reading the "Shadow Report" on US AI Policy

 TechPolicy.Press, here.

UK CMA Provides First Insights into the Application of UK Merger Control Rules to AI Partnerships

 Morrison & Foerster, here.

Regulating general-purpose AI: Areas of convergence and divergence across the EU and the US

 Brookings, here.

AI Integration and Modularization

 Stratechery, here.

Faux ScarJo and the Descent of the A.I. Vultures

 The New Yorker, here.

A new agenda to boost competitiveness and growth in the European Union

 Germany and France, here.

The Berlin Summit Declaration – Winning back the people

 Forum New Economy, here.

Justice Department Sues Live Nation-Ticketmaster for Monopolizing Markets Across the Live Concert Industry

 DOJ, here.

Private Ordering and Generative AI: What Can We Learn From Model Terms and Conditions?

CREATe, here.

Promoting competition in AI

 DOJ and Stanford, video here.

The ugly truth behind ChatGPT: AI is guzzling resources at planet-eating rates

 M. Mazzucato, here.

What Does the Supreme Court Have to Say About Consumer Welfare? A Reply to Professor Hovenkamp

 D. Bush, here.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INDUSTRIAL POLICY

 R. Juhász, N. Lane, here.

Breaking Up Big Tech: Scissor Line Suggestions for Smart Cuts

 M. Schinkel , R. van Oosten, here.

Public Interest Digital Innovation

 Video here.

Fear and concentrated market power

 L. Khan, here

Media Companies Are Making a Huge Mistake With AI

 J. Lessin, here.

Artificial intelligence, data and competition

 OECD BP, here.

The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy

 G.Weyl, A. Tang, here.

Bringing Back Business Competition

 Lina in the Dragons' Den, here.

Consultation on new digital markets competition guidance

 CMA, here. 

Apple may soon have to allow third-party app stores in Japan too

 9to5mac, here.

Interim report 8: data products and services

 ACCC, here.

From Brussels to Boulder: Colorado Enacts Comprehensive AI Law on the Heels of EU’s AI Act with Significant Obligations for Business and Employers

 Baker McKenzie, here.

Olivier Guersent: Antitrust, Tech Giants and the Digital Markets Act in Talks with Aurelien Portuese

 GW, Podcast here.

Measuring the Openness of AI Foundation Models: Competition and Policy Implications

 T. Schrepel, J. Potts, here.

Towards a Framework for Openness in Foundation Models

 A. Basdevant et al., here.

How Does Competition in Generative AI Work?

 Video here.

Gateways Comparing Digital Communication Systems in Nordic Welfare States

 S. Sophus Lai, S. Flensburg, here.

Danish market investigations

 Here.

Monopolisation, moat building and entrenchment strategies

 OECD, here.

A Competition Lawyer’s Digest of the Letta Report – What You Need to Know

 S. MacMahon Baldwin, here.

Café IA, un dispositif pour débattre et agir sur notre relation aux technologies.

 CNN, ici.

Follow the (personal) Data: Positioning Data Protection Law as the Cornerstone of EU’s ‘Fit for the Digital Age’ Legislative Package

 G. Zanfir-Fortuna, here.

WIPO Member States Adopt Historic New Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge

 WIPO, here.

Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act receives Royal Assent

 UK Gov, here.

Research, innovation and data: a fifth freedom in the EU single market?

 Bruegel, here.

The Origins of Europe’s Economic Malaise

 The Nation, here (and here).

Old Moats for New Models: Openness, Control, and Competition in Generative AI

 P. Azoulay et al., here.

Report of the work undertaken by the ChatGPT Taskforce

 EDPB, here.

Dynamics of Corporate Governance Beyond Ownership in AI

 C. Rikap, here.

Further investigation needed into acquisition of media company RTL by rival DPG

 ACN, here.

PUT THE PUBLIC IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT: SHADOW REPORT TO THE US SENATE AI POLICY ROADMAP

 CSOs, here.

Signal is a mighty example proving that tech can be done otherwise

 M. Whittaker, here.

CMA's Cloud services market investigation

 Competitive landscape working paper, here. 

Egress fees, here. 

Committed spend agreements, here.

High-Level Group for the Digital Markets Act Public Statement on Artificial Intelligence

 HLG, here.

Remarks by Executive Vice-President Vestager on the adoption of an antitrust decision against Mondelēz for cross-border trade restrictions

 Here.

FTC and DOJ Seek Info on Serial Acquisitions, Roll-Up Strategies Across U.S. Economy

 FTC, here.

2024 Anti-Monopoly Summit

AELP, Video here.

Interview Of The Week: Meredith Whittaker, AI Ethics Expert

 TheInnovator, herehere. 

Manipulation into unsustainable consumer choices as exploitative abuse of dominance

B. Mäihäniemi, herehere. 

The new fight against monopoly power

 N. Shaxson, here.

Of Hope, Reality, and the EU Digital Markets Act

 C. Caffarra, here. 

POWER & DIGNITY The Ends of Online Behavioral Advertising in the European Union

 A. Zerdiashvili, here. 

Private equity escapes major antitrust lawsuit

 Axios, here. 

What’s Happening in France, Portugal, and Poland? Catching Up With International Enforcers at the 2024 Spring Meeting

 ABA, Our Curious Amalgam here. 

Las Startups españolas denuncian prácticas anti-competitivas de Microsoft ante la CNMC

 Startups, aquí. 

CNMC public consultation on cloud services

 Here. 

Avec Antoine Monin, directeur général de Spotify France

 On n'arrête pas l'éco,  ici (de 21:25). 

Computational Antitrust and the Future of Competition Law Enforcement

 V. Robertson, J. Fleiss, here. 

A Regulatory Roadmap to AI and Privacy

 D. Solove, here. 

ICN 2024 Conference

 Live streams here. 

The new EU and UK regimes for regulating competition in digital markets: we finally see what’s on the plate—but do we know how to eat it?

 O. Andriychuk, here. 

Smart Data Roadmap – a response from non-govt members

 Here. 

Microsoft is launching its mobile game store in July

 TechCrunch, here. 

What to expect during dawn raids under the DMA, the DSA, and the draft AI Act

KCLB, here. 

Generative AI for Pro-Democracy Platforms

 MIT, here.

Governments Must Shape AI’s Future

 M. Mazzucato, F. Gernone, here (and here). 

How the EU’s DMA is changing Big Tech: all of the news and updates

The Verge, here.  

CASE AT.40437 – Apple – App Store Practices (music streaming)

 Decision here. 

EU Competition Day 2024

 Video here. 

Noncompete agreements in a rigid labor market: the case of Italy

 T. Boeri et al., here. 

How to Fix a Failing Art. 102 TFEU: Substantive Interpretation, Evidentiary Requirements, and the Commission's Future Guidelines on Exclusionary Abuses

 H. Schweitzer, S. de Ridder, here (and here). 

Are Letta, Macron and Draghi Marking the End of Neoliberalism in Europe?

 C. Caffarra, here. 

Digital Ecosystems: Market challengers and pro-competitive solutions

 Edited by V. Falce, here. 

Commission seeks feedback on commitments offered by Vifor over possible anticompetitive disparagement of iron medicine

 Here. 

24th Annual Loyola Antitrust Colloquium

 Here. 

Readings: 

Breaking Up Bottlenecks in Big Tech and Everywhere Else: Two Remedies That Keep Your Packages Arriving in Two Days

The Healing Power of Antitrust  

Monsters in the deep?

 Bank of England, here. 

AI and the Law: Regulation and Opportunity

 Panel moderated by R. Picker (I don't often agree with him, but always learn something), Video here. 

Pre-pre-print - Innovation Competition in the Generative AI Space: Future-Proofing Competition Policy (again)?

 Please let me know if you have any feedback, here (soon on Arxiv). 

Professors Tejas N. Narechania and Rebecca Wexler on Governing Artificial Intelligence

 Podcast here.

Data Portability & the Digital Markets Act

 ECA, video here 

Committee MEPs want to enhance customers’ control over their financial data

 EP, here. 

A Report from the Courtroom: Amazon’s paramount significance for competition across markets confirmed in Germany

 SCiDA, here. 

Big companies, big risks

 ACM, here. 

Article 102 Guidelines: Where Are We Heading?

 E. Iossa, here. 

EU COMPETITION LAW AFTER THE GRAND CHAMBER’S DECEMBER 2023 SPORTS TRILOGY: EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE, INTERNATIONAL SKATING UNION AND ROYAL ANTWERP FC

 G. Monti, here. 

Investigation opened against Novamont for alleged abuse of dominant position by Novamont

 AGCM, here. 

Calling on the European Commission to Enforce Data Portability

 MyData, here. 

Bundesgerichtshof bestätigt Amazons überragende marktübergreifende Bedeutung für den Wettbewerb

 Hier. 

CMA Conference for its 10th anniversary

 Video here. 

How open, effective competition and targeted, effective regulation can together help to drive economic growth and productivity

 CMA, here. 

CMA seeks views on AI partnerships and other arrangements

 CMA, here. 

Consent or Pay: The EDPB weighs in

 iapp, video here. 

L'economia dei dati nell'Intelligenza Artificiale

 

Video qui. 

You don’t need to own an iPhone for the government lawsuit against Apple to benefit you

 Los Angeles Times, here and here. 

Audizioni sul ddl n. 1066 (Norme per lo sviluppo e per l'adozione di tecnologie di intelligenza artificiale)

 Senato, video qui. 

Considerations for AI Opt-Out

 M. Nottingham, here. 

EU Data Summit of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung: Always learning something new and unexpected

Programme, here. 

Recordings:

Day 1 here.

Day 2 here. 

(Study mentioned during the "Level Playing Field in Accessing Vehicle Data?" here, BTW). 

Day 3 here. 

Second time that I participate in person, the other 4 editions I followed online (and I hereby gratefully acknowledge that I normally use the summit's recordings also as teaching material for my courses). 

This time I participated in a transatlantic panel on antitrust (as a humble researcher and observer, I didn't have perhaps tons to say - apart from talking of saffron risotto - but the other two Panelists did - worth watching for their comments and the excellent questions by Samuel Stolton). But I also had a fun dual role as a moderator of a truly insightful DMA panel (first time I moderated a panel - and it showed - but, luckily, my great Panelists didn't need me at all!).

Driving Innovation with Antitrust

 G. Massarotto, here. 

EU Merger Regulation 139/2004: 20 Years that Made a Difference

 EC, Video here. 

OECD-EU Online Workshop on Regulation of Artificial Intelligence

 Video available here. 

Competitive and resilient high-tech manufacturing base in Europe

 M. Vestager, here.

Letta Report here. 

Draghi's Géopolitiques Article here. 

AI Foundation Models: Technical update report

 CMA, here. 

Non-price competition in EU merger control

 EC, Policy Brief here. 

Toward a Safer, Freer, and Fairer Digital Economy

 FTC, here. 

USTR Initiates Section 301 Investigation of China’s Targeting of the Maritime, Logistics, and Shipbuilding Sectors for Dominance

 US, here. 

Meta, in Its Biggest A.I. Push, Places Smart Assistants Across Its Apps

 NYTimes, here. 

European cloud customers affected by restrictive licensing terms for existing on-premise software, new [paid for] research finds

 Savanta, here. 

Konferenz: Shaping AI - Demokratisch. Nachhaltig. Innovativ

 Grüne im Bundestag, Video hier. 

EDPB: ‘Consent or Pay’ models should offer real choice

 Here. 

Sam Altman Invests in Energy Startup Focused on AI Data Centers

 WSJ, here. 

2024 Antitrust and Competition Conference

Full of amazing panels, you just have to watch them all - over the coming weeks and months, also because they'll even get better with time.

Day one, video here. 

How Much Does Antitrust Enforcement Affect Productivity Growth? (8:23)

Case Studies: AT&T & IBM (2:07:25)

The Quest for Next: How Antitrust Shapes Competition and Innovation in Computers and Chips (3:45:17)

Case Study: Microsoft (4:48:19)

Case Study: Google (6:11:24)

The End of the Beginning for the Antimonopoly Movement? (7:33:50)

Conversation with Lina Khan and Jonathan Kanter (9:39:53)

Day two, video here.

Regulatory Competition, the DMA and Innovation (14:05)

How (Not) To Regulate AI: Challenges and Opportunities (1:50:54)

The Proper Role of Economics in Merger Review (3:34:20)

Privacy, Property Rights and the Diffusion of AI (4:52:29)

This Conference is NOT Funded by Big Tech (6:20:55)

FTC chair Lina Khan on playing "anti-monopoly"

 CBS News, here. 

Gen AI - Law & Policy Challenges

 DCI, Video here.

Rebalancing Europe: A new economic agenda for tackling monopoly power

 Programme here; livestream here. 

Meta Seeks Dismissal of FTC’s Antitrust Lawsuit Over Instagram, WhatsApp Deals, Claiming It ‘Faces Fierce Competition From a Range of Platforms’

 Variety, here. 

Regulating Big Tech: India Joins the Club

 V. Kathuria, here. 

Monopoly Round-Up: A Judge Can Break Up Google Right Now. Will He?

 M. Stoller, here. 

Développement des systèmes d’IA : les recommandations de la CNIL pour respecter le RGPD

 CNIL, ici. 

Nach EU-Milliardenstrafe: Apple streicht Linkverbot, beharrt auf Provision

 Heise.de, hier. Also here. 

How Tech Giants Cut Corners to Harvest Data for A.I.

 NYTimes, here.

Reshoring and Restoring: CHIPS Implementation for a Competitive Semiconductor Industry

 Economicliberties.us, here. 

Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity

 D. Acemoglu, Video here. 

Sure, No One Knows What Happens Next. But Past Is Prologue When It Comes To AI

 TechPolicy.press, here. 

Google's Chrome Antitrust Paradox

 S. Munir et al., here. 

Revision of EU pharmaceutical legislation

 EP, here. 

The DSA and Platform Regulation Conference 2024

 Videos here. 

Meta's Pay-or-Okay Model: An Analysis Under EU Data Protection, Consumer, and Competition Law

 A. D'Amico et al., here. 

Grüne Technik: EU-Kommission will Chinas Marktdominanz eindämmen

 Heise.de, hier. 

In Conversation with Mariana Mazzucato, Tim O’Reilly and Ilan Strauss on Algorithmic Attention Rents

 Video here. 

EU Companies Criticize Proposal Favoring Big Tech in Cloud Computing Contracts

 CPI, here. 

The EU Artificial Intelligence Act: our 16 key takeaways

 Stibbe, here. 

UN: AI resolution must prioritise human rights and sustainable development

 Article 19, here. 

Said no to tracking cookies? Good chance your data are still being collected

 Amsterdam Law School, here. 

Rebalancing Europe – a new economic agenda for tackling monopoly power

 EU civil society, here. 

Amazon Self-preferencing in the Shadow of the Digital Markets Act

 J. Waldfogel, here. 

Global dominance of biggest stocks rises to highest in decades

 FT, here and here. 

Business Blog’s Clear Eye on AI

 FTC, here. 

The Forgotten Anti-Monopoly Law: The Second Half of Clayton Act § 7

 R. Lande, J. Newman, R. Kelly Slaughter, here. 

Alternative browsers report uplift after EU’s DMA choice screen mandate

 Natasha The Great and I. Mehta, here. 

AI Foundation Models: Update paper (11 April 2024)

 CMA, here. 

Meta trials its AI chatbot across WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger in India and Africa

 TechCrunch, here. 

Commission approves Illumina's plan to unwind its completed acquisition of GRAIL

 Here. 

3 key interlinked risks to fair, open and effective competition (update)

 CMA, here. 

The Dispersion of Power: Samuel Bagg’s Urgent Call to Redefine Democracy

 Yale ISPS, here. 

Epic's proposed permanent injunction

 Here. 

The historic all-star, whole-of-government approach panel

 Video here, from 41:50. 

An Economy with Ethics

 McGuinness, here. 

Are We Ready for AI Creative Destruction?

 D. Acemoglu, here. 

The DMA in Action: Early Effects and Global Reach

 ITIF (supported by all DMA gategeepers but Bytedance - as well as Boeing, the national champion), video will be here. 

When it comes to digital, this is our 1955.

 

M. Vestager, video here; speech here. 

'Super Apps' and the Digital Markets Act

 

Short piece 'invited' by a Journal, preprint here.

Notate Bene: written before the DOJ v. Apple Complaint was filed ;-).

Appeals court reopens DOJ antitrust probe of Realtors

 Politico.com, here. 

Not a ‘side dish’: New industrial policy and competition

 C. Caffarra and N. Lane, here. 

BTW: CC blocked me on X because she finds me and/or my views annoying. No hard feelings, her views will always be welcome on this blog!

America Has a Resilience Problem

 L. Khan, here (or you car hear the Author here). 

Google Is Killing Retro Dodo & Other Independent Sites

 Retrododo, here. 

Big Tech's inside job

 Business Insider, here. 

Does Apple Stifle or Promote Innovation?

 M. Stucke, here. 

Amazon offers free credits for startups to use AI models including Anthropic

 Reuters, here. 

Vestager: Apples Sicherheitsbedenken wegen Sideloading per DMA sind Blödsinn

 Heise.de, hier. Video here. 

Projet de loi visant à sécuriser et réguler l'espace numérique

 DOSSIER LÉGISLATIF, ici. 

Reinvigorating Antitrust: Citizens, not just Consumers

 Transcript, here. 

Ten years later, Facebook’s Oculus acquisition hasn’t changed the world as expected

 TechCrunch, here. 

A first look at Europe’s alternative iPhone app stores

 The Verge, here. 

Lina Khan – FTC Chair on Amazon Antitrust Lawsuit & AI Oversight | The Daily Show

 Video here. 

EU AI Act Compliance Checker

Here.  

Regulator Probes BlackRock and Vanguard Over Huge Stakes in U.S. Banks

 WSJ, here. 

Data Protection Reform: CIPIL spring conference 2024

 Videos here. 

Algorithmic Collusion by Large Language Models

S. Fish et al., here.  

Banking in video games and virtual worlds

 CFPB, here. 

EU: AI Act fails to set gold standard for human rights

 Article 19, here. 

THE original law school paper on Amazon: did you read it?

 S. Sharda, here. 

Will Antitrust Become Progressive?

 H. Hovenkamp, here. 

For AI firms, anything "public" is fair game

 Axios, here. 

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 

Digital Services Interoperability: Free Software in the European legislative landscape

 FOSDEM 2024, Video here.

What Have The Consultants Ever Done For Us?

 

T. Valletti, here. 

Digital Platforms, Competition Law, and Regulation: Comparative Perspectives

 Open access book with many goodies, here. 

Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning: Understanding the Costs and Benefits

 ICO, here. 

Future Software Should Be Memory Safe

 White House, here. 

Microsoft partners with Mistral in second AI deal beyond OpenAI

 The Verge, here, 

Parliament's negotiating position on the standard essential patents regulation

 EP, here. 

The Countdown to the Google Ad Tech Trial Is On: Here’s What You Need to Know

 TechPolicy.Press, here. 

RemedyFest

 Video here. 

How OpenAI/Microsoft and other 'big tech'/ AI partnerships ended up in the antitrust hotseat in both Europe and the US

 DealCast here. 

Microsoft’s AI Access Principles: Kudos to the AI which wrote it

 Microsoft Blog, here.

Innovation against change

 A. McLean, here.

Microsoft announces ‘AI access principles’ to offset OpenAI competition concerns

 TechCrunch, here.

Apple on course to break all Web Apps in EU within 20 days

 OWA, here. 

EU seeks to investigate Apple over cutting off web apps

 FT, here. 

Rotten Apple

 Adactio, here. 

How to Think About Remedies in the Generative AI Copyright Cases

 P. Samuelson, here. 

Privacy Advocates Urge European Regulators to Oppose Meta’s No-Ads Subscription Model

 CPI, here. 

Competition Law and Innovation II

 CENTI, Podcast with T. Schrepel, here. 

DOJ’s Jonathan Kanter says the antitrust fight against Big Tech is just beginning

 The Verge, here. 

7 changes to patch the EU’s Digital Markets Act and make open app markets a reality over Apple’s belligerent stance

GamesFray, here.  

Banking and Antitrust

 S. Omarova, G. Steele, here. 

Apple's App Store Compliance with the Digital Markets Act: The 7 Deadly Sins You Must Know

 Aptoide, here. 

Apple says it spent "tens of thousands of hours” on the DMA App Store solution after Microsoft complains

MSPowerUser, here.  

The American Schools of Antitrust

 T. Wu, here. 

Google Tweaked Search to Comply With EU Rules. Yelp Says It Makes Results Even More Unfair

 Wired, here. 

Whatsapp muss sich öffnen: Threema und Signal winken ab

 Heise.de, hier. 

German Court Rules Against Google in Competition Case

 Pymts, here. 

Helping Europe’s digital economy take off: An agenda for the next Commission

 CER, here. 

Reviewing Mergers Under Article 102 TFEU: Proximus/EDPnet (Belgium)

 F. Bostoen, here. 

In conversation with Sarah Cardell

  Cleary Gottlieb Antitrust Review podcast, here. 

Joint Inventorship: AI-Human Style

 Patentlyo, here. 

AG Kokott on Google Shopping

 Here. 

Data-related Obligations and Interoperability in the DMA

 CERRE, here. 

EPC Statement concerning Apple's compliance plans with the DMA

 Here. 

DOJ re Google AdTech

 PLAINTIFFS’ POST-TRIAL BRIEF, here. 

DMA Compliance workshops

18 March : Apple

19 March : Meta

20 March : Amazon

21 March : Alphabet

22 March : ByteDance

26 March : Microsoft

Here.

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

 D. Lawrence DOJ, here. 

Innovation competition and abuse of dominance in the AI age

 Presentation here.

How to Avoid Big Tech's Monopoly on AI?

 Video here. 

Amazon hides cheaper items with faster delivery, lawsuit alleges

 ArsTechnica, here. 

 

[Of course they do :-), if they can get away with it...]

AI Antitrust - Yann Guthmann

 Concurrences, here. 

Intelligence artificielle générative : l’Autorité s’autosaisit pour avis et lance une consultation publique jusqu’au vendredi 22 mars

AdlC, ici. 

Commission adopts revised Market Definition Notice for competition cases

 EC, here. 

Morning Brew: Apple isn't playing fair

 Video here. 

WhatsApp Chats Will Soon Work With Other Encrypted Messaging Apps

Wired, here. 

In its tantrum with Europe, Apple broke web apps in iOS 17 beta, still hasn't fixed them

 The Register, here. 

Effective remedies in digital market abuse of dominance cases

 A. Ganesh, here. 

Bytedance v. EU on interim relief

GC, Order here. 

F.T.C. Chair Lina Khan live at the 2024 DCN: Next Summit

 Video here. 

Launch of the GW Competition & Innovation Lab

 Video here. 

NB: None of the academic economists mentioned that they worked for consultancies - eg Richard Gilbert for Compass Lexecon. 

Interesting to see Hans Zeng (EC) there too.

Who’s financing the whole initiative isn’t mentioned on the website. I guess no private donors then (?). The “other” dynamic competition initiative hosted in Florence is instead openly financed (also) by a consultancy. 

Letter: Europe has an unri­valled record on anti­trust

 O. Guersent, here.

The article has ruffled some feathers, while others of a similar tone have passed unnoticed. It is true, as BEUC writes, the "EU’s guiding principle has been to uphold a competition enforcement standard based on broader values including consumer choice, innovation and quality rather than simply price". However, it must also be acknowledged that in the EU the more economic approach with a very strong "industrial organization flavour" and its laser focus on prices and models (along with the array of consultancies it brings along) remains fairly dominant and has not been directly challenged from a theoretical standpoint as is happening in the US. 

EU AI Act: Next Steps for Implementation

 iapp, here. 

What super-apps could mean for the communications sector

 Ofcom, here. Ofcom on interoperability here. 

CERRE DMA Conference

 Video here. 

A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation

 UK Government response to consultation, here. 

FTC Launches Inquiry into Generative AI Investments and Partnerships

 Here.

When Apple takes the European Commission for fools: An initial overview of Apple’s new terms and conditions for iOS app distribution in the EU

 D. Geradin, here. 

Is “More Clouds” the Future We Want? A Dispatch from the FTC AI Tech Summit

 Techpolicy.press, here. 

“It never hurts to read the law.”

 M. Kades, here. 

Foundation Models: how they are regulated in the AI ACT

 Radiobruxelleslibera, here. 

Caffarra's Conference 2024

 Videos here. 

Don’t let monopolies hold Taylor Swift’s next tour hostage

 M. Carrier, here. 

Large language models and generative AI

 UK Parliament, here. 

Oral hearing with Ofcom and the CMA here. 

Apple’s DMA compliance plan is a trap and a slap in the face for the European Commission

 Proton, here.