Competition Law in the Age of Platform Businesses (A Multi-Case Studies)

Platform businesses formed new types of economic activities based on information and communication technology. Although governments encourage these businesses, they create challenges in the economic environment that indicate a failure in the efficiency of market mechanism and economic laws, especially Competition Law. This study aims to clarify the effects of business platform features on the Competition law and its Authority. For this purpose, a selected list of (anti) competition cases in Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (Brics), and Iran has been selected based on a multi-case study. The results show five characteristics of platform businesses age, including a) two-sided markets and network effect b) access instead of ownership c) revenue model and pricing d) innovation in business model and new economic segmentation, and e) data, its ownership, and privacy affect the three instances of the cartel, abuse dominance, and merger principles; Such as new examples of horizontal contracts, hub role-playing, vertical contracts (cartel/collusion), self-preferences, discrimination, denial of access through gateways, exploitation, assimilation of goods and services and aggressive/predatory pricing (abuse dominance) and changing corporate turnover and market structure (Merger). Second, these characteristics affect how the relevant market is defined (relevant product and relevant geography) and recognize the apparent market power. In addition, this study highlights the importance of designing a competition law authority concerning the sectoral regulator.