Legal Ways to Overcome Barriers to Developing Competition in the Digital Platform Services Market

Abstract

The purpose is to determine whether changes in Russian competition legislation are necessary to overcome the barriers to competition created by the market power of digital platforms. The objectives are 1) to identify whether there is enough regulatory material in the legislation of Russia to legally qualify the actions of digital platforms, which are anti-competitive barriers in controlled markets; 2) to investigate whether it is required to change the legislation for more effectively eliminating these barriers; 3) to determine what changes need to be made. Materials and methods. The research method is the method of "economics and law". The research methodology includes elucidating the specifics of the economy of digital platforms, factors affecting competition in the digital platform market, an empirical analysis of the anti-competitive practices of digital platforms, analysis of competition protection legislation to identify the need to change it to regulate digital platforms, and searching for other legal ways to overcome barriers standing in the way of developing competition in the digital platform market. Results. The current antitrust laws of Russia contain enough structures to qualify unfair competition and abuse of a dominant position in the digital platform market. It is necessary to attract a new economic theory of digital platforms at finding means to combat unfair competition in digital markets. The authors suggest including structural measures into the Russian legislation to limit anti-competitive practices of digital platforms, for example, to prohibit the owner of a digital platform from doing business that the participants in the platform do.