Abstract: This report evaluates whether non-discrimination obligations for online platforms are warranted from an economic and legal point of view. Thereby, the focus of this report is on online platforms that employ a multi-sided business model. Based on several case studies encompassing operating systems, app stores, search engines, e-commerce platforms and ad-blocking, the report identifies (i) (paid) prominence of some third parties over others and (ii) the favouring of a platform’s integrated services over independent entities as possible concerns across the internet with respect to discrimination in online platforms. In the extreme, such discrimination may even take the form of blocking of specific third-party products, content or services. Within this scope, both the current legal framework that applies to online platforms at the EU level, as well as the insights of the economic literature regarding the welfare effects of discrimination with respect to prominence are reviewed in this report.
Publication Year: 2017
Publication Date: 2017-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 5
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