THE ECONOMICS OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS: MONOPOLIZATIONRISKS AND THE URGENT NEED FOR COMPETITION POLICY REFORM

Abstract

Digital platforms—such as Google, Amazon, Meta, and Apple—have transformed the global economy, offering unprecedented efficiency, connectivity, and innovation. However, their market structures often lead to extreme concentration, raising serious concerns about monopolization, reduced innovation, and consumer harm. Traditional competition policies, rooted in price-based consumer welfare analysis, are ill-equipped to address non-price harms and structural dominance in digital markets. This thesis argues that the unique economics of digital platforms—driven by network effects, data accumulation, and zero-price models—necessitate a fundamental revision of antitrust frameworks. Proactive, ex-ante regulatory tools, such as the EU’s Digital Markets Act, represent a necessary evolution in competition policy to preserve contestability and fairness in the digital economy.