Epilogue: Algorithmic Antitrust—A Questioning

Abstract

What have we learned from the competition analysis applied to algorithm-driven companies? First, the interest by enforcement agencies and the complexity of the antitrust implications of algorithms suggest that a new area of antitrust inquiry has emerged – namely, what we coin as “algorithmic antitrust”. Second, contrary to early treatments of algorithmic antitrust, the experience of algorithms on competition both reveals considerable innovation benefits of algorithms and limited anticompetitive concerns. As algorithms increasingly become technologies adopted by every company in any given industry, the competitive advantage of algorithms over non-algorithmic competitive shrinks. As algorithmic innovation quickly becomes commonly used, algorithmic competition intensifies, and allegedly anticompetitive conduct becomes common business practices. In other words, more than strong assertions, algorithmic antitrust raises many questions and more questioning than gloomy predictions of algorithm-driven anticompetitive conduct. As companies compete via algorithmic innovations, antitrust enforcement ought to reconsider their overall pessimistic conclusions about algorithmic antitrust and rather ensure that companies embrace algorithms as an innovative way to compete.