Regulating Digital Market Power: Competition Law in the Age of Big Tech

Abstract

Digital platforms have reshaped global markets by leveraging data-driven business models, extensive network effects, and ecosystem integration that collectively reinforce unprecedented forms of market power. As these platforms evolve into essential infrastructures for communication, commerce, and information access, traditional competition law struggles to address the structural characteristics that entrench dominance in multi-sided and zero-price markets. This narrative review examines the conceptual, legal, and policy challenges associated with governing digital market power and analyzes the diverse regulatory responses emerging across major jurisdictions. The study synthesizes developments in the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, China, and a range of other countries to highlight converging concerns over gatekeeping power, data concentration, algorithmic governance, and the limitations of ex post antitrust enforcement. It explores unresolved issues in defining relevant markets, managing data portability and interoperability, detecting algorithmic discrimination, and evaluating mergers involving nascent competitors. The review also assesses ongoing debates regarding the balance between innovation and regulation, the interplay between competition and privacy objectives, and the risks of regulatory fragmentation in a globalized digital economy. By integrating insights from law, economics, and technology, the article provides a comprehensive understanding of the evolving landscape of digital competition policy and identifies the conceptual and practical foundations necessary for developing effective governance frameworks in the age of Big Tech. The analysis underscores the need for adaptive, forward-looking regulatory approaches capable of preserving market contestability while supporting innovation and protecting societal interests in rapidly transforming digital markets.