Innovation And Control: Modernising Competition Law In The Digital Age
- IJLLR Journal
- Sep 20
- 2 min read
Aayush Raj, B.A. LL.B. (Hons.), National University of Study and Research in Law (NUSRL), Ranchi
ABSTRACT
The digital marketplace has been expanding uncontrollably over the past few years, primarily due to the advent of platform-based businesses that are no longer limited by traditional industrial boundaries. Big Tech companies, usually known as giant technology corporations, have an unprecedented influence on data, algorithms, and the entire services ecosystem. Although these innovations have driven innovations and convenience to consumers, it has also posed new competition challenges to antitrust (competition) regimes. Conventional laws, which focus mostly on industrial age market structure, are often inadequate in examining the multi-sided and intangible nature of platform dominance. This paper will critically examine the interaction between innovation and control in the digital market with particular reference to the Competition Act of 2002 as applied by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in relation to Indian competition law.
Following a chronological outline of the history of competition law and its developing stages to the present, this article describes the main characteristics of digital platforms like network effects, data monopolisation, and platform lock-in, and explains why they render the traditional analysis of antitrust challenging. It goes further to assess recent case law in India and its similarities to international jurisprudence, with a particular focus on precedent cases concerning Big Tech in the United States and the European Union. By so doing, it both identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the current regulatory reactions. The article ends by giving a list of the reform measures that can be implemented to guarantee healthy competition, consumer welfare, and sustainable innovation in online markets. These are suggestions such as the redefinition of market power, facilitating data portability and improved cross-jurisdictional collaboration.
Keywords: Digital Marketplace, Platform Dominance, Big Tech Regulation, Network Effects and Data Monopolisation
