Social networks were found in the fifth package – Business – Kommersant
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The fifth antimonopoly package, whose requirements are focused on marketplaces and aggregators, was again proposed to be extended to social networks and search engines. The FAS believes that the current version of the project does not take into account the impact of platforms with a wide audience on consumer demand. E-commerce companies asked for an extension of the new requirements a year earlier, but then their initiative was not taken into account. Experts believe that at the moment it is practically impossible to specify the signs of a “digital platform”.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service has proposed expanding the draft fifth antimonopoly package regulating the digital environment, which is being prepared for consideration in the State Duma, to social networks and search engines. This was announced on Monday by Deputy Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Sergei Puzyrevsky at parliamentary hearings of the Committee for the Protection of Competition. This makes sense, he says, since non-transactional platforms are also “in a certain sense in a competitive relationship.” He also suggested removing the 35% product market share criterion to rank a platform as dominant. As a result, the committee recommended the FAS bill for consideration by the State Duma in the first reading with the condition to work out proposals for its adjustment to the second. Yandex and VK declined to comment.
The fifth antimonopoly package has been developed since 2016 and should expand the scope of the law “On Protection of Competition” to the digital sphere. Thus, he introduces the concept of “network effect”, which implies the receipt of economic advantages by a market participant due to a large number of users and the data collected from them, which, according to the FAS, is a sign of a dominant position.
The antimonopoly package will extend the ban on abuse of dominant position to marketplaces and aggregators if they have a significant impact on related markets, and their revenue for the year exceeds 2 billion rubles. Also, companies must coordinate with the Federal Antimonopoly Service transactions in the digital market over 7 billion rubles.
Representatives of the online commerce segment asked the FAS to extend the effect of the fifth package to social networks, instant messengers and search engines, referring to the fact that platforms can influence the choice of users when shopping on the Internet. But then the initiative of the industry was not taken into account (see. “Kommersant” dated February 3, 2021). A year ago, non-transactional platforms did not fall under the scope of the project, among other things, because it is now very difficult to consolidate the concept of a “digital platform” and agree on its specific features, says Karen Kazaryan, director general of the Internet Research Institute.
The fifth antimonopoly package contains a radically new approach and includes definitions that were not previously used in the legislation, for example, “network effect”, clarifies the interlocutor of Kommersant in the IT market. “In this regard, the new regulation must first be tested on transactional platforms, where sellers and buyers operate explicitly,” explains Mr. Kazaryan. This is necessary to understand how the new regulations work and how effective they are, he explains. And only then, taking into account the practical applicability, the interlocutor believes, it is possible to discuss the possible expansion of regulation to non-transactional platforms.
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