Month: September 2023

The FTC’s landmark case against Amazon tackles the central issue of e-commerce market power

Since Lina Khan – famously an Amazon critic – was appointed chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a significant lawsuit against Amazon has been expected. The lawsuit was finally launched on Tuesday, brought jointly by the FTC and 17 state attorneys general. The FTC says that Amazon has raised its fees and commissions, cluttered … Continue reading The FTC’s landmark case against Amazon tackles the central issue of e-commerce market power →

Platform divergence and geographic divergence after Microsoft/Activision and Apple v CMA

In January 2022, we first reported on the CMA’s concerns that Apple had been blocking cloud gaming apps on the App Store (Google does allow those apps on Play Store but does not allow in-app purchases to be completed within cloud gaming apps). The CMA referred this issue to a full market investigation on 22 … Continue reading Platform divergence and geographic divergence after Microsoft/Activision and Apple v CMA →

European Commission adopts first DMA designation decisions

Today marks a milestone in EU platform regulation. The European Commission adopted the first “designation” decisions under the Digital Markets Act (or DMA). Those decisions designate as “gatekeepers” certain tech companies which offer core platform services that meet specific quantitative criteria (e.g., they reach 45 million end users). The tech companies that have been designated as gatekeepers … Continue reading European Commission adopts first DMA designation decisions →