Antitrust, Regulation and the Neutrality Trap: A Plea for a Smart, Evidence-Based Internet Policy
Posted by Social Science Research Network
Antitrust, Regulation and the Neutrality Trap: A Plea for a Smart, Evidence-Based Internet Policy Andrea Renda (Centre for European Policy Studies)
Abstract: EU Internet policy seems bewitched by the term ‘neutrality’, applied to networks and now search engines and other online platforms. Andrea Renda questions in this latest Special Report whether this is this a good way to protect end users.
Originally confined to the infrastructure layer, today the neutrality rhetoric is being expanded to multi-sided platforms such as search engines and more generally online intermediaries. Policies for search neutrality and platform neutrality are invoked to pursue a variety of policy objectives, encompassing competition, consumer protection, privacy and media pluralism. This paper analyses this emerging debate and comes to a number of conclusions. First, mandating net neutrality at the infrastructure layer might have some merit, but it certainly would not make the Internet neutral. Second, since most of the objectives initially associated with network neutrality cannot be realistically achieved by such a rule, the case for network neutrality legislation would have to stand on different grounds. Third, the fact that the Internet is not neutral is mostly a good thing for end users, who benefit from intermediaries that provide them with a selection of the over-abundant information available on the Web. Fourth, search neutrality and platform neutrality are fundamentally flawed principles that contradict the economics of the Internet. Fifth, neutrality is a very poor and ineffective recipe for media pluralism, and as such should not be invoked as the basis of future media policy. All these conclusions have important consequences for the debate on the future EU policy for the Digital Single Market.
Featured News
Court Order Temporarily Halts U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Layoffs
Feb 16, 2025 by
CPI
Nokia Poised to Gain EU Approval for $2.3 Billion Infinera Acquisition
Feb 16, 2025 by
CPI
Turkey Fines Frito-Lay in Antitrust Crackdown
Feb 16, 2025 by
CPI
Advances Bill to Strengthen Antitrust Enforcement Through AI
Feb 16, 2025 by
CPI
Intel Faces Potential Breakup as Broadcom and TSMC Explore Deals
Feb 16, 2025 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – International Criminal Enforcement
Jan 23, 2025 by
CPI
The Antitrust Division’s Recent Work to Combat International Cartels
Jan 23, 2025 by
Emma Burnham & Benjamin Christenson
Information Sharing: The New Frontier of U.S. Antitrust Enforcement
Jan 23, 2025 by
Brian P. Quinn, Casey Kovarik & Michael Tubach
The Key Role of Guidelines on Exchanges of Information Among Competitors and the Divergent Transatlantic Paths
Jan 23, 2025 by
Rosa Abrantes-Metz & Albert Metz
Leniency, Whistleblowers, and Compliance
Jan 23, 2025 by
Richard Powers, Tara O’Malley & Cory Gordon