Antitrust Analysis Of The Internet Platform's Market Power In The Digital Era

This is an era of digitally guided competition.Many Internet platforms use a business model that relies on personal data as a key input.This business model often involves a multilateral market,that is,the platform provides free services to users,aiming to obtain valuable personal data.In order to provide more targeted and higher quality advertising,which will generate relevant competitive advantages in the advertising market and quickly obtain a large amount of revenue,at the same time,the platform can analyze market demand more accurately.As a result,data,network effects,and expanding service coverage have increased user conversion costs,undermined the competition in relevant markets,and increased resistance of other companies to develop artificial intelligence and innovation in the future.Therefore,analyzing the market power of the Internet platform must consider the data factors and closely link the market power with the resulting exclusionary competition effects.As data analysis and pricing algorithms become commercial practices in the digital era,there is growing concern that the Internet platforms will use these tools for personalized pricing,which is actually a form of price discrimination,based on using an algorithm to analyze uses' willingness to pay,and then charges consumers different prices according to it.While personalized pricing can increase distribution efficiency and benefit low-end consumers,they can get more services,but in some cases,it can also lead to overall consumer welfare losses.In addition,if these practices are carried out using opaque or deceptive means,it is likely to reduce consumer trust in data-driven enterprises and create an unfair sense,thereby hindering the steady development of the market.The antitrust regulatory framework is imperative.The impact of big data on market competition represents a new frontier in the antitrust field.We should take a cautious view of the role played by antitrust law,so as to avoid excessive constraints on competition while safeguarding market and technology development.On the one hand,big data can provide enterprises with faster market response and more efficient operational results,becoming an extremely strong competitive advantage,but on the other hand,big data mechanism can become an entry barrier and eliminate competition.With the free services provided by the Internet platform,the traditional structured market power analysis method should be improved to,and weaken the effect of the relevant market in the analysis framework.Moreover,the effect-based market power analysis method should be introduced in the digital era.Finally,trying to use data as an analysis tool for market power,the evaluation attributed the data to hinder the competition effect,and then targeted the protection of consumers' privacy and data security.The first chapter mainly describes the impact of current data on market power,including the direct impact on the market power of data holders,the indirect impact on their competitors,and the changes in the interests of the final consumer.Certain technical means limit competitors' access to core data,invade adjacent markets for vertical integration,form a greater data aggregation advantage,further promote the development of artificial intelligence industry,and seize the opportunities in the future market competition development.In addition,introduce the personalized pricing and analyze its economic logic,laying the foundation for the Antitrust analysis.The second chapter begins to discuss the evaluation methods of market power.The traditional structural market power assessment method encounters bottlenecks in the free market and multilateral market of the Internet platform,and the SSNIP approach is difficult to apply.The current approach is to avoid this problem,but we can use data as a tool that define the relevant market.At the same time,the SSNIP method has problems under the zero price,but we can make an attempt to value the data.A preliminary idea of several data valuations is proposed for inspiration.The third chapter introduces an effect-based market power analysis model.With the presumption of occupying a large market share for a long time,fully consider the particularity of the digital era,and prove the market power of the Internet platform from the scale effect,network effect,platform stickiness and feedback mechanism.Further elaborate on the anti-competitive effects that such market power may bring,quality losses and violations of consumer privacy.The fourth chapter proposes the specific way to add data to the market power assessment framework.It points out that the platform must strengthen the protection of data privacy,transfer responsibility to the platform,and inform the consumers the way to use the data and get the license more often.It is difficult to evaluate personalized pricing,we list its legal framework,that is,determining the existence of non-cost-based price differences,the platform has market dominance,and from the perspective of consumer welfare and efficiency,it hampers the effects of competition,and then assess the sustainability of such effects,and identifies the reason of the price discrimination to establish reasonable remedies.When the Antitrust law is difficult to decide on data circulation and data protection,adopt a gradual data sharing approach to promote the steady development of the data market.