Competition policy and data protection law: The complexity of its interplay from an economic perspective

Wolfgang Kerber

Chapter 16 in Research Handbook on Data, Privacy and Competition Law, 2025, pp 382-402 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The key role of personal data on digital platform markets controlled by large tech firms leads to a deep intertwinement of competition law and data protection (or privacy) law. Discussions exist in competition law about taking privacy into account also privacy in competition cases and, vice versa, whether market power could be a criterion in data protection law. However, a comprehensive analysis of the complex relationship between both legal regimes is missing. This chapter aims to contribute to the analysis of this complex relationship from an economic perspective by introducing a framework regarding the manifold interaction effects between both policies (based upon market failure analyses). The chapter critically analyzes critically the current discussions about unilateral solutions and shows that they suffer from serious problems and limitations, leading to suggestions for more collaborative and integrative approaches. In the EU, the existing DMA with its targeted regulatory approach might offer a path towards a broader integrated approach for asymmetric regulation of large tech firms with respect to competition, data protection and consumer protection.

Keywords: Competition law; Data protection law; Large tech firms; German Facebook case; Digital Markets Act (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781802202328
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781802202335.00026 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:20999_17

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().