Digital Profiteering: Price Manipulation And Algorithmic Collusion In Online Marketplaces As Emerging Socio-Economic Offences
- IJLLR Journal
- 6 days ago
- 1 min read
Adarsh Ray, Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, New Delhi
ABSTRACT
The pervasiveness of artificial intelligence and algorithmic pricing mechanisms on digital markets has posed new challenges for existing competition law paradigms. This article addresses the phenomenon of algorithmic collusion and dynamic pricing as new types of "digital profiteering", a term that goes beyond traditional descriptive phrases such as price manipulation to cover technology-enabled anti-competitive practices in electronic commerce.
Through doctrinal analysis of India's Competition Act, 2002, Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and Information Technology Act, 2000, this research expounds on significant enforcement loopholes of the Indian legal system. Comparative regulatory analysis of the European Union (Digital Markets Act), the United Kingdom (Competition and Markets Authority enforcement), and the United States (Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice actions) provides alternative models for addressing algorithmic pricing.
The paper contends that algorithmic collusion, explicit or tacit, is a socio- economic offence requiring legislative action. A few suggestions are to amend Section 3(3) of the Competition Act to specifically include algorithmic behaviour, enforce algorithmic audit mandatory requirements, build institutional capacity in the Competition Commission of India, and define a consistent doctrine of "digital profiteering" that unifies competition law, consumer protection, and data governance laws.
