Beyond ‘Hipster Antitrust’: A Critical Perspective on the European Commission’s Google Decision

Abstract

This contribution offers a critical socio-legal perspective on the European Commission’s Decision in the Google Shopping investigation. In particular, three outstanding issues, concerning Google’s data collection, algorithmic transparency and the beneficiaries of the Decision are explored. The Decision does not address all the problems associated with Google’s platform power. However, it is argued that competition law, even modified from the current More Economic Approach as the antitrust hipsters suggest, is not able to do this alone, but has to be part of a multi-regime response involving regulation and consumer law.

Keywords: Competition, Antitrust, EU, Google, Algorithms, Transparency, Data Protection, More Economic Approach, Platform Power

JEL Classification: K00, K10, K20, K21, K42