US Threats of a ‘Te(ch)xodus’ from the UK?

A recent BBC Article reports that US technology giants have warned that the economic and legal landscape in the UK is becoming less appealing for tech companies, such as Meta and Google. This is due to several developments which can be classed into two main categories: (1) Increasing UK legislative regulation, requiring tech giants to…

Issues in the UK’s forthcoming Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill

On 6 May 2022 the Government confirmed its approach to strengthen digital competition regulation in the UK.[1] The UK is now on the verge of publishing the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill (the “Bill”) which will be broadly aligned with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (“DMA”). However, will the Bill be fit for purpose?…

European General Court largely upholds record EU antitrust fine against Google for abusive restrictions cementing its dominance

On the 14th of September 2022, the European General Court (“EGC”) delivered its judgement on Google’s antitrust case. The EGC largely upheld the European Commission’s (“EC”) 2018 ruling to impose an antitrust fine on Google, but with a slight reduction of the fine from €4.343bn to €4.125bn to “better reflect the gravity and duration of the…

OFCOM’S GENERAL CONDITIONS CHANGES IN RELATION TO THE EUROPEAN ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS CODE

Providers of electronic communications networks and services (“CPs”), are generally authorised to operate in the UK without a licence, save for certain exceptions where a licence is still required (e.g., use of spectrum). The UK regulator (“Ofcom”) requires CPs to comply with Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement (the “General Conditions”). These have been subject to…

CMA provisional findings may lead to Facebook being forced to sell Giphy

On 12 August 2021, The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) announced its provisional findings that Facebook’s completed acquisition of Giphy is likely to harm competition between social media platforms and between digital display advertising players.  The CMA considers that Facebook could restrict the use of GIFs on other social media platforms, making its competitors change…