Category: Interoperability

Cartoon of blue Twitter bird, with a black X-eye

X to become DMA-designated gatekeeper?

Posted on 3 March 20243 March 2024 by Ian Brown

Exciting news indeed from Brussels. Apparently X has told the European Commission it meets the criteria to be designated as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act 🤩🍿. If so, then we REALLY need the DMA Art. 7 messaging interoperability mandate expanded to social networking services, and aggressive enforcement of those existing provisions which would partly enable this.

On the persistence of exTwitter

Posted on 22 February 202425 February 2024 by Ian Brown

With X/Twitter, Elon Musk seems to be singlehandedly illustrating the exciting antitrust concept of Significant Non-transitory Decreases in Quality while having limited impact on X usage (thanks to network effects).

Cristina Caffarra (bottom right) interviews FTC Chair Lina Khan (main window) remotely

Notes from the Next World Order

Posted on 31 January 20243 March 2024 by Ian Brown

Cristina Caffarra’s annual competition-fest today in Brussels was as speaker- and content-packed as ever. As well as much discussion of the eagerly anticipated deadline for Digital Markets Act compliance in five weeks, it was a fascinating look beyond narrow antitrust policy to competition policy linkages with industrial and trade policy (with lots of AI on the side).

Photo of a smartphone showing the TikTok app, with an out-of-focus green plant in the background

Is TikTok a DMA social networking service or video-sharing platform?

Posted on 27 July 20236 September 2023 by Ian Brown

What type of service is TikTok under the Digital Markets Act? And should an interoperability requirement be applied to its new Twitter-like service?

Prof Daron Acemoglu talking in his office via videoconference

Generative AI and market power: What role for antitrust regulators?

Posted on 20 July 202321 July 2023 by Ian Brown

Many thanks to Tommaso Valletti and Cristina Caffarra for organising this spectacularly good panel on antitrust and generative AI. It’s well worth watching in full, but I’ve tried to capture some key points.

German competition authority publishes final messenger sector study

Posted on 17 May 202317 May 2023 by Ian Brown

The Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office) has been undertaking a long-running sector study of the German messenger (and video services) market, and today has published its final report. I wanted to add a few comments to elements of the report, because without a close reading of the DMA’s provisions it is easy to draw incorrect assumptions about implications of the BKA’s conclusions.