The study scrutinizes the conduct of Google in relation to theories of harm in the Europe and India for the alleged and established breach of antitrust laws pertaining to abusing its dominant position.
Author
Krusha Bhatt, Lecturer, Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Summary
The expansion and rise of the digital platforms have fueled the transformation of digital markets in the recent years and we are in the process of witnessing a trend towards integrated technological services.
For an instance the acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft, the acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram by Facebook has led us in a direction of better social interactions and a dedicated connectivity. Digital platforms like Facebook, Google, and Amazon etc. have immensely contributed to the development of digitally based economy.
While this technology enabled market is convenient and beneficial for both users and competitors across the world, the burning question is about the hidden and/ or potential concerns behind the practices these platforms are involved in which, may harm the competitive structure of the market and ultimately the consumers.
Apparently, since a decade the conduct of Google has brought new challenges in the digital market attracting the attention of competition law watchdogs worldwide and concerns like this will continue to gain attention of anti- trust and other concerned authorities in the future as well.
The aim of the study is to explore the scope of market definition in defining a digital relevant market in order to establish dominance especially for the two or multi sided market like Google.
The present study scrutinizes the conduct of Google in relation to theories of harm in the Europe and India for the alleged and established breach of anti- trust laws pertaining to abusing its dominant position.
The researcher argues that ex post intervention through competition law is insufficient to deal with the challenges involved in the digital platform and therefore we need ex ante regulations to address these challenges more effectively.
Published in: IOSR Journal of Humanities And Social Science
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