In a recent working paper, Ayse Gizem Yasar (LSE) and Fabian Ziermann explore the concept of virtual worlds. They argue that virtual worlds emerge from existing ecosystems, such as app stores, video games, and hardware platforms, and are shaped by competing narratives. Ultimately, virtual worlds’ structure will reflect the narratives advanced by the most influential stakeholders. To prevent a winner-takes-all outcome, as witnessed in other digital markets, they call for early regulatory involvement to help shape these evolving architectures. The paper can be accessed here.
Competition Law in Austria 2025
Vicky Robertson just published the second edition of her monograph Competition Law in Austria. Forming part of Kluwer’s International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this volume provides an in-depth account of Austrian competition law, including its legal provisions and recent case law. The volume is up-to-date as of February 2025. It can be accessed here (as part of the IEL) and individually here.
Protecting Democracy in the Digital Era
In a recent blog symposium on the Verfassungsblog that was turned into a Verfassungsbook, a range of scholars address the question how to deal with tech plutocracy in different areas of the law. Vicky Robertson contributed an essay on the possible contributions of competition law. Edited by Alberto Alemanno and Jack Veraldi, other authors include Anna Gerbrandy (who visited The Hub in May 2022) and Viktorija Morozovaite (who was a Visiting Fellow with The Hub back in 2022). The Verfassungsbook is available in open access here.
Algorithms as Antitrust Remedies
In digital markets, remedies are frequently seen as the weak point in EU competition law cases. In this contribution, Jana Lasser (Idea_Lab, University of Graz) and Vicky Robertson focus on one particular instrument that may be able to remedy certain competition concerns in digital platform markets: alternative recommendation algorithms. Through four scenarios, they explore how alternative recommendation algorithms could remedy competition concerns that arise in relation to the quality of digital services, media pluralism, and weak competition in social media and digital news markets. They assess both the design and the monitoring of this complex type of remedy by competition authorities. Their contribution in the Journal of European Competition Law and Practice is available in open access.
The DMA in Bulgaria
Petar Petrov contributed a chapter on the application of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in Bulgaria to the book Navigating the DMA: Application Across National Jurisdictions, edited by Gabriella Muscolo and Alessandro Massolo, and published by Concurrences. The book was presented on 26 February 2025 in Paris on the occasion of the annual OECD Competition Law Days conference. You can access the chapter here.
Detecting RPM with Unsupervised Machine Learning
The data-driven investigation of potential antitrust violations has found more and more applications in recent years, including through the use of machine learning. However, the availability of labelled data to train algorithms proves to be an obstacle. In a new working paper, Valentin Forster, Jürgen Fleiß, Dominik Kowald and Vicky Robertson explore the use of unsupervised machine learning to detect Resale Price Maintenance (RPM) in price data. Their paper is available here.
Insights into the Vienna Competition Law Days 2024
In the current issue of the Austrian Competition Journal (Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kartellrecht), David Führer takes a look back at the Vienna Competition Law Days 2024, which The Hub hosted at the Vienna University of Economics and Business on 12 and 13 September 2024. He gives an overview of the workshop’s four panels and the ensuing discussions, as well as of Stavros Makris’s book talk. The article, in German, is available here.
Recommendation Algorithms as Antitrust Remedy
In a new working paper, Jana Lasser (IDea_lab, University of Graz) and Vicky Robertson discuss how alternative recommendation algorithms could be implemented as a remedy in antitrust and merger cases in the digital economy. Through four scenarios, they explore how this tool could remedy competition concerns that arise in relation to the quality of digital services, media pluralism, and weak competition in social media and digital news markets. A particular focus lies on how alternative recommendation algorithms can remedy competition concerns that simultaneously pose a threat to liberal democracy. They assess both the design and the monitoring of this complex type of remedy by competition authorities. Their working paper is available here.
Tech Plutocracy and Competition Law
Against the background of Big Tech’s growing influence with the US President, the Verfassungsblog is hosting a symposium brought together by Alberto Alemanno and Jacquelyn Veraldi, entitled ‘Musk, Power, and the EU: Can EU Law Tackle the Challenges of Unchecked Plutocracy?’. In her contribution to the symposium, Vicky Robertson draws on her recent research (see here, here, here and here) to explore what contribution competition law could make in keeping unseeming market power in check. You can access the contribution here.
Judicial Review in Competition Law
In the recent Mapping Judicial Review project, academics from the EU and UK assessed how national competition law decisions are judicially reviewed. Rupprecht Podszun was the rapporteur for Germany, while Vicky Robertson was the rapporteur for Austria. For a recent contribution published in the January 2025 edition of Wirtschaft und Wettbewerb (Competition Law and Economics), the two compared notes on their main findings. They identified some important differences: for instance, not all cases are published in Germany, while publication is required in Austria. German courts do not show a strong engagement with EU law, and the opposite is true for Austria. In Austria, the competition authorities have no decisional powers, while in Germany decision divisions at the Federal Cartel Office hand down decisions with considerable autonomy. The two rapporteurs conclude that competition law regimes may greatly benefit from mutual learnings, putting them in a better position to review the exercise of power – not only by companies, but also by competition authorities. Their contribution (in German) is available in open access here.
DMA Brochure for Tech Challengers
Vicky Robertson and Alexandre de Streel (Université de Namur) contributed to a new brochure on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) aimed at tech challengers (“business users”) and issued by the Belgian Competition Authority. After an in-depth consultation, the final brochure is now available in English, French and Flemish. It highlights the opportunities in digital markets that the DMA opens up, and how digital businesses could make use of them.
Digital Democracy and Competition Law
On 6 December 2024, Vicky Robertson will be discussing the interplay between democracy, competition law and digital markets at the OECD Competition Committee Roundtable on “The interaction between competition and democracy” in Paris. You can read the note she prepared for her intervention here.
The OECD’s Background Note on the topic is also already available here.