Online Platforms: New Evidence, Next Steps

Against the backdrop of a raging debate on digital platforms, the Lisbon Council convened the High-Level Roundtable on Platforms in the Digital Age: A Deep Dive on the Economics and Regulatory Challenge of Online Platforms. The session brought together an eclectic group of regulators, app developers, platform managers and other digital economy aficianados for a wide-ranging discussion on the economic role of online platforms – and the regulatory challenge it poses. Brian Williamson, partner at Communications Chambers, kicked off the discussion with a presentation on Reconciling Private Market Governance and Law: A Policy Primer on Digital Platforms, a new study on the complexity of digital-market regulation, which was launched on the occasion. Daniel Matray, director continental Europe App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV App and iTunes at Apple, chimed in with an overview of Apple’s European footprint, and the emerging eco-system of apps, app developers, online customers and online businesses. Later, Lenard Koschwitz, director for European affairs at Allied for Startups; Siada El Ramly, director-general of the European Digital Media Association (EDiMA); Arne Schepker, chief marketing officer of Babbel, and Werner Stengg, head of unit for platforms and e-Commerce at the European Commission’s directorate-general for communications networks, content and technology, weighed in, offering their views on the coming challenge of EU regulation in the field.

Download Reconciling Private Market Governance and Law: A Policy Primer on Digital Platforms

Download European Commission Proposal for a Regulation on Promoting Fairness and Transparency for Business Users of Online Intermediation