Great expectations: the Facebook case and subsequent legislative approaches to regulate large online platforms and digital markets

Abstract

In recent years, the accumulation and entrenchment of power by a few large firms in the digital markets sector and the complementary decrease in the level of competition has become visible around the world. This could likely result in negative consequences for potential competitors, individuals and businesses that interact with these firms. In order to address this challenge, several jurisdictions have initiated the development of legislative tools to regulate these large firms. The first regulation of this type has been enforced by the German legislator and could therefore serve as a reference for other jurisdictions. In advance of practical experience, this paper will conduct a theoretical analysis of potential structural and data-related issues arising from this regulation. It will deduce that the regulation successfully addresses data-related concerns which have previously been confronted in the so-called Facebook case. The paper will also identify shortcomings in structural aspects, which will be confronted with a comparison to the UK approach for a similar regulatory tool. The results of the comparison will be summarised in a list of recommendations with the aims to improve the German regulation and to serve as guidance for similar approaches in other jurisdictions.