Data and Competition Law: Introducing Data As Non-Monetary Consideration and Competition Concerns in Data-Driven Online Platforms

Abstract

Online platforms such as Google and Facebook claim that their services are free to users, however, the services provided by both of them are not free as users barter data in return to their services. The user data allows them to improve their products and services as well as offer highly targeted advertising opportunities to advertisers. Given the importance of data, an online player would try to accumulate more and more user data to increase efficiency and develop new products and services which can lead to concentration of user data in the hands of few players. Moreover, due to unique features associated with online platforms incumbents players like Google and Facebook receive strong competitive advantage over others that create high barriers to entry for potential new entrants. To maintain this competition advantage the incumbent dominant platform can refuse to provide access to data to its competitors or prevent its potential competitor to accumulate data. In this paper, I have highlighted certain practices of Google and Facebook that prevented potential new entrants to enter into relevant market. These practices not only affected competition but also impacted users as well, in the form of privacy loss. Hence, to open-up the competition in data-driven online platform market regulating the accumulation and use of data is necessary. That can help to decrease the concentration of data within the hands of few players and improve data driven innovations which in turn will benefit consumers as well as competitors.