Why limit large digital platforms market power at the EU?

“One of the hottest issues on the agenda of the European Commission with respect to Europe’s Digital Future relates to whether certain online platforms – generally referred to as “gatekeepers” or “systemic platforms” – should be subject to ex ante regulation designed to control their market power and ensure the contestability of digital markets.” .

In this article Damien Geradin, Founding Partner at Geradin Partners and Professor of Law at Tilburg University, provides several reasons to support the need of ex ante regulation for large digital platforms to complement the EU competition framework:

• Digital markets move very fast making ex post regulations ineffective to tackle anti-competitive practices.
• When a problem is recurrent and affects many companies ex ante regulation solves the issue for all. 
• Remedies imposed may do little to reinvigorate competition.