Maria Michalis publishes on Competition Law and Regulation

Maria Michalis has published a chapter on “Competition Law and Regulation” in the Handbook of Media and Communication Governance (2024, M. Puppis, R. Mansell and H van Den Bulck (eds.) Edward Elgar. Her chapter explains competition law and regulation, focusing on characteristics of digital platforms and the challenges they raise. It argues that weak competition law enforcement, from the mid-1990s till the mid-2010s, permitted the growth of a few powerful online platforms. The recent reawakening of competition law enforcement and the move towards proactive (upfront) regulation in, among others, Europe and the United States, is a welcome but limited response. Two additional lines of action can help address the systemic problems of the evolving digital media landscape and the driving force of platform dominance based on data collection. One, we need specific data-related policy measures. Two, we need to nurture a viable diverse digital space, by empowering market entry based on alternative non-surveillance-based business models. In short, competition law and regulation are a solution, but not the solution, to the fundamental economic, social and political-democratic welfare concerns raised by platform society.