Google and the transatlantic antitrust abyss

Jonathan Rubin of MoginRubin and Christian Bergqvist, a law professor at the University of Copenhagen, conducted a comparative study on the different approaches antitrust authorities in the EU and US take when regulating dominant digital platforms such as Google. They observe that the EU in the Google shopping case applied a more encompassing legal standard for abuse than in past cases, which resembles the characteristically German ordoliberal approach, focused on impediments to the competitive market process and the preservation and promotion of consumer choice – rather than the consumer welfare standard that had heretofore been part of the transatlantic antitrust consensus.