CMA recommendations are “based on fear”, says Victoria Hewson
2 July 2020
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Dr Kristian Niemietz writes for CapX
2 July 2020
Healthcare
Lifestyle Economics
15 November 2024
“The CMA recommendations are based on fears for possible future harms to innovation and competition. Rather than wait for any such harms to consumers to be proven, they wish to empower a regulator to take preemptive action – which would be a dangerous step, predicated on the idea that expert regulators could know what configuration of service providers would actually lead to more innovation and competition.
“The report acknowledges that Google and Facebook have been able to use GDPR to their advantage by excluding competitors from data and systems, but rather than considering if this regulation is working well for consumers they urge even stricter enforcement by the ICO and more layers of regulation.
“Instead of calling for ever greater distortions in competition and regulatory policy the CMA could more usefully have looked at the barriers to entry and expansion caused by legal, fiscal and regulatory interventions by government that have discouraged or held back competitors to Google and Facebook.
“The CMA claims a new regime is urgently needed because of the fast-moving, complex nature of this market – but that is exactly why a regulator would be unlikely to predict and plan how to improve such markets ex ante.”
ENDS
For media enquiries, contact Emily Carver, 07715942731
IEA Head of Regulatory Affairs Victoria Hewson is available for further comment.
Further IEA reading on regulatory affairs here.
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
“The report acknowledges that Google and Facebook have been able to use GDPR to their advantage by excluding competitors from data and systems, but rather than considering if this regulation is working well for consumers they urge even stricter enforcement by the ICO and more layers of regulation.
“Instead of calling for ever greater distortions in competition and regulatory policy the CMA could more usefully have looked at the barriers to entry and expansion caused by legal, fiscal and regulatory interventions by government that have discouraged or held back competitors to Google and Facebook.
“The CMA claims a new regime is urgently needed because of the fast-moving, complex nature of this market – but that is exactly why a regulator would be unlikely to predict and plan how to improve such markets ex ante.”
ENDS
For media enquiries, contact Emily Carver, 07715942731
IEA Head of Regulatory Affairs Victoria Hewson is available for further comment.
Further IEA reading on regulatory affairs here.
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
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