A New Pro-competition Regime for Digital Markets : Individual Submission by Oles Andriychuk

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Andriychuk, Oles (2021) A New Pro-competition Regime for Digital Markets : Individual Submission by Oles Andriychuk. University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. (In Press)

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Abstract

Consultation question 1: What are the benefits and risks of providing the Digital Markets Unit with a supplementary duty to have regard to innovation? The answer to the question if the DMU should be provided with a supplementary duty to have regard to innovation depends on the intended mode of its use. If it is regarded for the reasons, relevant to substantiating intervention, it may be accepted. If, however, the notion of innovation is applied by the defendant for justifying non-intervention or for accepting innovation as an efficiency defence or objective justification, such formula may be counterproductive for the reasons explained below. Innovation is a term having various overlapping meanings and dimensions. There is no single objective metric for measuring innovation. The key question is who benefits from the innovation? Is innovation evolving in the direction expected by the enforcer? What type of innovation should the DMU accept? Is it the innovation in delivering a greater online experience for end users? Their greater experience from engaging more comprehensively in filter-bubbles and echo-chambers? Is it the innovation in developing more advanced and robust tailoring and matching expertise? Is it the innovation in improving surveillance techniques of the Digital Panopticon? All universally acknowledged shortcomings of the digital society are being underpinned by robust innovation. Similar to the concept of 'consumer welfare' dominating the discussions in competition law, economics and policy for several decades, the flavour, the scope and the beneficiaries of innovation are more important than innovation in abstract. The dynamic of evolution of the digital society demonstrates ...

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