Digital Society and Regulations: A Competition Policy Perspective

With regard to the realization of digital society, there has been a call for an integrated reform of digital rules and public administration based on digital principles, and it is highly expected that progress towards legislation will accelerate based on these principles or policies. This chapter examines the issues and risks associated with the digitalization of society, as well as the legal state of a digital society. Concerning the issues of “RegTech”, it is expected that data in the cyber-physical system (CPS) context will become large-scale and extensive in the form of Big Data, and that AI and other entities may become the primary decision-makers. Moreover, there is a risk of market dominance by the firms typified by the so-called “BigTech”. In the discussion of regulations and systems in the digital era, the question of the legitimacy of regulations arises as the process of achieving public interest varies, and further research and examination on the voluntary regulation is also necessary. Additionally, it is important that citizens are aware of the fact that joint regulation advances the welfare of individual citizens. As to the discussion on the “public”, it is essential to clarify where responsibility lies, as well as to coordinate and harmonize the rules with traditional sector-specific regulations. As for the role of competition policy, it is imperative to increase the number of law enforcement cases, to monitor cartel-like price hikes in an inflationary world, and to seriously consider how to properly utilize AI in fact-finding and value judgment, which have been done by humans, in the evolution of generative AI.