Effectiveness of Competition Law in Dealing with Privacy-Related Harms

This chapter explores the intersection of privacy-related harms and competition law, particularly under Article 102 TFEU. It critiques the inadequacy of current regulatory frameworks to comprehensively address privacy concerns and advocates for a value pluralistic approach to incorporate privacy harms into competition assessments. The chapter examines how competition law can use its versatile toolkit to evaluate market power and dominance in digital markets, focusing on exploitative theories of harm related to user privacy breaches. The discussion highlights the evolving role of data in competition law, noting recent attention by competition authorities to privacy issues in digital market investigations. It questions whether enhanced data privacy protection can justify potentially anticompetitive conduct and examines case studies involving Google and Apple. This analysis underscores the potential for integrating privacy considerations into competition law to foster competitive and fair digital markets.