Season 3, Episode 12: All about the Digital Markets Act (with Lazar Radic)
May 7, 2024
auto_awesome
Lazar Radic, a Competition Policy expert, discusses the EU's Digital Markets Act, iPadOS gatekeeper designation, EC investigations into tech giants, and the impact of DMA on the digital economy. Topics include regulatory landscape shifts, enforcement challenges, and attitudes towards competition in Europe.
DMA can shape the EU's digital economy with new regulations.
EC faces challenges in enforcing DMA due to limited staff capacity.
Tech companies' competition for talent and innovation contradicts monopolistic claims.
Deep dives
The Disconnect Between Antitrust Theory and Common Sense
Antitrust enforcement increasingly diverges from common logic and consumer behavior. The accusation of companies exploiting consumers contradicts the fact that consumers willingly choose and pay for products like Apple despite competition and abundant alternatives.
Regulatory Paternalism and Prescriptive Product Design Choices
Regulatory agencies dictating granular product design choices, like Apple's browser selection screen, impede consumer engagement and disregard company expertise in product design. The push for excessive regulatory involvement goes beyond rectifying clear anticompetitive practices to micromanaging design elements.
Regulatory Burden and Enforcement Capacity
The challenge of enforcing regulations like the DMA with limited staff capacity, European Commission's 80-member enforcement team facing high regulatory demands, highlighting the strain of supervising complex tech markets effectively.
Impact on Competition and Innovation
Tech companies' fierce competition for talent and innovation investment contradicts claims of monopolistic behavior, competitive recruitment practices and significant R&D spending denote vibrant market dynamics rather than anticompetitive action.
Antitrust Evolution and Consumer Welfare Standard
Ongoing shifts in antitrust focus towards non-price considerations and competition protection risk overshadowing consumer welfare standards. The need to balance innovation incentives and competitive dynamics amid regulatory scrutiny remains a focal point.
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Lazar Radic, a Senior Scholar for Competition Policy at the International Center for Law & Economics and Adjunct Professor of Law at IE University. Our conversation focuses on the EU's Digital Markets Act and the broader competition regulation landscape. Among other things, we discuss:
A brief survey of the most meaningful recent new competition laws and investigations;
The DMA workshop process;
The EC's announced investigations into three gatekeepers following the conclusion of their workshops;
The designation of iPadOS as a gatekeeper;
How the DMA might shape the digital economy in the EU;
Whether the EC has enough capacity to effectively enforce the DMA;
New attitudes toward competition in the regulatory landscape.
Thanks to the sponsor of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: