Changing Discourse Of Competition Law In India: Analyzing The Abuse Of Dominant Position By Large Digital Enterprises
Shreyashi Sah, Research Scholar, Department of Law, Patna University
ABSTRACT
In today’s world the connection of human beings with technology is overpowering, we cannot imagine a day without technology in our lives, our morning starts with scrolling feeds on facebook and instagram, to replying incessantly on whatsapp the whole day, to travelling in OLA and Uber and finally ending our day by ordering our favourite cuisines on Zomato and Swiggy. Hence it is right to say that we live in a digital age today which is fun and has made our lives easy but is also way more complicated when it comes to repercussions that it offers. Data today is the new oil and has become a medium of trade but this fears the legal world that this weapon of trade is being used by enterprises who have arrived early on in business to hold large market share and dominate the entire digital market as this data is used by enterprises to personalize our news feed, sell it to advertising companies for economic gains and thus infringing our privacy, turning the gift of technology from boon to bane. Take for instance the story of Zomato, Google, Facebook-Whatsapp, these companies were new entrants in the digital markets and hence have today a strong hold on to them, becoming dominant and abusing their position. This article will unfold itself starting from the history of Competition Law in India i.e. changing discourse of Competition Law from Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act to Competition Act, analysising the various cases filed on Google and Facebook and Zomato in which these enterprises have been found prima facie engaging in anti-competitive practices and how can such malpractices be prevented in the digital market in India.)
