Tag: Competition & Antitrust

Interim report signals expansive study of digital advertising by Japan’s JFTC

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An interim report on a study of digital advertising done by the competition authority of Japan signals an expansive look at antitrust, data privacy, and consumer protection concerns sharing the hallmarks of recent enforcement against digital platforms in Europe.

Digital advertising platforms are services (offered by companies like Facebook and Google) connecting online publishers who want to sell advertising space to advertisers who want to pay to use that space. The interim report (which does not mention any specific platforms) contains initial factual findings from surveys sent to the various market players by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC).1https://www.jftc.go.jp/en/pressreleases/yearly-2020/April/200428.html

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The visible hand: how data privacy can reshape digital markets and inform competition policy

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California earlier this year took a big first step to narrow the American-European tech regulatory divide with a comprehensive data privacy law. Tech companies operating in two of the largest markets in the world must now give their users some basic transparency and control over what data is collected about them and why. But data protection is more than just another compliance check-box. Data privacy rules are reshaping digital markets and informing the debate about competition policy in tech to address increased consumer demand for better protection of personal information.

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The browser wars: cookies at the intersection of privacy and competition

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A growing demand for more privacy online has fueled a battle between the major web browsers. One of its casualties is the browser cookie, a 1990s innovation still widely used today to track users as they surf the internet. As web browsers phase out the use of tracking cookies, some internet businesses that depend on them to target users with ads will suffer, while browser operators and some online publishers stand to benefit. The browser wars and their impact on the use of cookies illustrate the increasing interplay between privacy and competition, and how antitrust laws might shape online markets in areas such as digital advertising. 

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Japan ramping up digital platform regulation with mixed toolkit

Kaj Rozga2 Comments

In keeping with trends seen among active enforcers around the world, Japan is ramping up digital platform regulation with a toolkit that includes a mix of data privacy, competition, and consumer protection considerations.

Japan’s most recent efforts are a draft bill proposing a new platform regulation to ensure transparent and fair dealing with users and vendors on digital platforms.

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Mexico’s Digital Strategy unabated by coronavirus

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In a signal that worldwide efforts to pursue regulation in the digital sector will not stop during the coronavirus crisis, Mexico’s competition authority (COFECE) announced its Digital Strategy on March 30.

While acknowledging that tech players are injecting needed competition into large domestic markets with high concentration levels, the agency’s statement sets out a five-point action plan for studying competition enforcement in the digital sector.

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