Some thoughts on the #BigTech #AntiTrustHearings: The gap between US and EU approaches is narrowing. Why now? Best guess: digital business models have crossed a threshold where their short-term benefits can no longer mask long-term competition and consumer harms 1/8

Some harms are straightforward. Evidence of old-fashioned predatory pricing. The money shot: internal emails showing that #Amazon priced http://Diapers.com  out of the market in 2009, then raised prices. Possible to use standard #antitrust tools like recoupment test 2/8

And if you’re a seller on #Amazon and Amazon Basics starts up in the same product category as you, watch out. #Amazon using data from sellers to compete against them, manipulate product listings is a clear violation 3/8

Dealing with zero-price platforms like #Google and #Facebook is much trickier. Difficult to prove harm when #antitrust regulation has focused on price as a metric of consumer welfare since the 1980s 4/8

Good to see @RepValDemings @DavidCicilline and others draw links between market power, competition on privacy and consumer welfare. Two great papers on this: @bhusan_j’s https://bit.ly/313wv5Z  and @Katharine_Kemp’s https://bit.ly/2P8mPSh  5/8

Means that regulators don’t need to look only at the advertising side of zero-price platforms for abuse of dominance but can also look at the consumer side. Paradigm shift. Implications for M&As, revenue models, digital ad business and much more 6/8

With #Bundeskartellamt ruling on #Facebook getting green light and this grilling pointing to House Antitrust Subcommittee report that will ask tough questions, innovative thinking on how to end free ride for #BigTech moving from research to policy in major jurisdictions 7/8

Imp now for @CCI_India to update how it looks at digital markets. CLRC Report and Draft Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2020 good first steps, but ignores possibility of integrating privacy as competition metric. This is crucial. More debate in India needed on this 8/8

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