ANTITRUST INVESTIGATIONS
CD: How has the scope of antitrust investigations changed in recent years, particularly in relation to digital platforms and algorithmic pricing models?
Boedeker: Antitrust enforcement has widened and deepened over the last few years. Regulators still care about classic issues, such as monopoly power, price-fixing and unlawful mergers, but they have broadened what counts as ‘competition harm’ and the tools they will scrutinise, especially where big digital platforms and automated systems are involved. There are a few key ways the scope has shifted. Regulators now treat platform practices, including self-preferencing, default settings, app-store rules, gatekeeper conduct, buy-box or ranking algorithms, as core antitrust issues, not just ancillary facts. New regulatory regimes, including the European Union’s (EU’s) Digital Markets Act (DMA), create obligations specifically aimed at large platforms and give authorities faster, tailored enforcement tools. This is changing investigations from narrow price or merger probes into broad reviews of entire platform business models.
Peng: Pricing algorithms, dynamic and personalised pricing, and automated repricing tools are now a frontline concern. Authorities worry algorithms can facilitate explicit collusion by exchanging signals, enable tacit collusion by quickly punishing deviations, or enforce parity through platform rules. Regulators have published studies and statements and have opened cases or guidance projects focused specifically on algorithmic pricing. We expect to see more probes that examine code, logs, training data and model outputs. Enforcers are applying old statutes to new tech but are also experimenting with remedies tailored to digital markets, such as interoperability mandates, data-access orders, limits on default settings, structural divestitures in extreme cases and algorithm audits. Courts and agencies are more willing to pursue large structural remedies in platform cases. Recent high-profile suits and DMA enforcement show this shift.
Jan-Mar 2026 issue
StoneTurn