Digital Markets Act: A Promise for a Fairer Digital Environment or a Failed Experiment?

“For the first time he perceived that if you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself”, George Orwell wrote in his novel “1984”. While the novel was written 60 plus years ago, it perfectly describes the digitalized society of today, with consumers being at severe risk of falling prey to the artificial temptation of digital consumerism. Tech giants as governors of the digital ecosystem are pulling the strings on businesses and consumers, resulting to the creation of an imbalanced competitive environment. Consumer data fuels the digital economy by allowing tech giants to increase their dominance to the detriment of competition and privacy. The Digital Markets Act was introduced as a tool of reversing these negative impacts. Our legal analysis will shed light on the role of the Digital Markets Act on ensuring a level playing field for all digital businesses regardless of their power and size, by also identifying its impact on empowering the privacy of consumers.