Challenges of Regulating Anti-Monopoly Enforcement and Unfair Competition in the Digital Economy

Abstract

The digital economy has put the traditional anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition tools under great pressure. This article takes as its starting point the theories behind Schumpeterian creative destruction, the two-sided market and the consumer welfare standard and analyses regulatory issues in five jurisdictions (EU, USA, UK, Germany and China) from 2018 to 2025. This qualitative research employs doctrinal legal analysis, comparative law, and economic-legal interpretation and regulatory practice evaluation to evaluate the effectiveness of existing competition frameworks. Based on the qualitative doctrinal analysis, it is suggested that the platform's characteristics are correlated with restrictions on traditional enforcement mechanisms, with data concentration and network effects showing the highest correlation. The six key gaps identified are: limitation of consumer welfare, neglect of exploitative abuse, fragmentation of enforcement, emphasis on exploitative conduct, fragmentation of mandate and remedial lag – the latter being the most prevalent. A comparative analysis shows that regulatory frameworks which combine ex ante commitments with ex post enforcement power generate optimal results with regard to timeliness, remedy diversity and market contestability. The research suggests that combined frameworks with institutionalised inter-agency coordination and multi-dimensional harm evaluation should be implemented. A restriction is that the information provided is limited to publicly available enforcement activities; it is possible that enforcement is continuing and confidential settlements are occurring.