Antitrust in the Digital Economy (SC)

This course addresses a defining legal issue of our age: how competition laws will apply to the giants of the digital economy. Tech platforms like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google rank among the largest and most powerful companies in history, and are increasingly confronted with antitrust challenges based on their roles as online gatekeepers. However, the outcome of those claims is uncertain given conservative judicial interpretations of U.S. antitrust law over the last half-century. This uncertainty is elevated by the complexity of establishing antitrust violations against platforms that supply billions of consumers with goods and sophisticated online tools for low – and sometimes zero – financial prices, and provide millions of small and medium sized businesses with valuable online advertising and distribution services. This course investigates the dynamics of digital platform competition, including network effects, multi-sided markets, and winner-take-all market conditions. We will explore the antitrust implications of various forms of dominant platform behaviors, including alleged exclusion and predation, acquisition of potential or nascent competitors, and self-preferencing of platform “house brands” over third-party products. We will also examine cases of alleged collusion in the tech platform context, as well as some emerging antitrust implications of artificial intelligence, including price-setting algorithms that can price discriminate between buyers or coordinate prices among competing sellers. In addition, we will explore the potential relationship between antitrust law and platform-related issues like consumer privacy, “big data,” filter bubbles, toxic content, and challenges to liberal democratic values. Finally, we will consider legislative reforms and other remedies being considered in response to platform dominance. Our class sessions will be interactive and engaging, featuring extensive visual aids, discussion questions circulated before class, and small-group exercises. Course materials draw on a rich body of recent cases, regulatory proceedings, legislative proposals, and expert commentary.