L’erompere dei poteri privati nei mercati digitali e le incertezze della regolazione antitrust

di Elia Cremona

SOMMARIO: 1. Due considerazioni in premessa – 2. L’erompere dei poteri privati nei mercati digitali – 3. Paradigmi classici e problemi contemporanei – 4. Le traiettorie del diritto antitrust nella digital economy – 4.1. Concentrazione di dati e potere di mercato – 4.2. I dati come prezzo, la privacy come nuova base giuridica dell’enforcement antitrust – 4.3. I Big Data (e gli algoritmi che li processano) come essential facilities nel mercato della pubblicità online – 4.4. Collusione algoritmica e intese 4.0 – 4.5. Concorrenza nel mercato, concorrenza al mercato – 5. Conclusioni per un recupero (o una ricerca) del fondamento costituzionale della disciplina della concorrenza nell’era digitale.

Today, the rise of new private powers in the digital environment - the large online platforms that are the masters of the world's most intelligent algorithms - is transforming markets, overturning established paradigms and forcing the legal system, at times, to use old instruments for new purposes, at other times to devise entirely new ones. In the fourth industrial revolution, the most traditional concepts of antitrust law, once transplanted into the digital environment, seem to be unstable. Consider the notion of consumer welfare, the definition of the relevant market, market power, abuse of dominant position, all of which are being challenged globally: antitrust law seems to be shaken from its foundations. It is not able to prevent the formation of monopolies and has to link up with other regulatory systems, especially data protection regulations, to combat new concentrations of power. But if a battle against Big Tech is to be fought, antitrust law needs to regain its authentic constitutional foundation, which combines the protection of the economic efficiency of the market with the protection of equality and freedom.