Antitrust and Data Protection Law

Digital platforms have emerged as new actors of the economy. They have peculiar features that make their assessment controversial under competition, consumer and data protection law by casting doubts on the suitability of the traditional legal framework. More precisely, the complexities of identifying the foreseeable harm to competition as a result of a merger or the exclusionary and exploitative effects of a certain data-driven conduct have made the scrutiny of personal data violations under antitrust law contentious. The analysis of data-driven conducts under competition law has raised concerns particularly in mergers and in cases of abuse of dominance and monopolization. In this framework, the paper will propose a critical analysis of the current legal debate on data and online platforms with the aim of re-considering the basic economic principles underlying antitrust law both in the United States and in the European Union. The analysis will focus on the intrinsic policies underlying the notion of consumer welfare under competition law as distinct from the protection of individuals envisaged by consumer and data protection law.