Democratic Antitrust for Digital Markets

Explores how contemporary competition law in Canada, the EU and the US addresses market failures in the marketplace of ideas governed by digital platforms.

Today’s digital environment constantly tests democratic liberties and processes: Can competition law make digital democracy more resilient?

Drawing on contemporary competition law in Canada, the EU and the US, this book offers a multi-jurisdictional perspective on this pressing issue.

Digital platforms increasingly shape public discourse and influence electoral outcomes. By controlling the infrastructure and the data required for this interference with democracy, they hold a power that is not democratically legitimised. Multidisciplinary research has revealed the serious implications of this imbalance for democratic liberties, processes and values.

Leveraging competition law is one way forward. Competition law is rooted in an understanding that economic power needs to be kept in check to prevent it from morphing into unwarranted political power, and it has long shaped the behaviour of digital platforms. The book negotiates the boundaries of competition law and develops a comprehensive framework that relies on competition law and policy to safeguard liberal democracy in digital platform markets (‘democratic antitrust for digital markets’). Its plan for action encompasses policy dialogue, agency cooperation, multi-stakeholder engagement, priority-setting, expert reports, market studies, notions of power in digital markets, theories of harm revolving around democracy, media pluralism in merger control, and democracy-enhancing remedies.

Combining insights from competition law, economics, and political science, the book offers students and academics an opportunity to explore competition law’s broader societal function. It provides legislators, courts, policymakers, and competition enforcers from different jurisdictions with a concrete and actionable toolbox to confront the democratic risks of concentrated digital power.