King of the Court: The Tipline for 31 July 2020

In a letter to the House of Representatives antitrust committee this month, EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager likened the dual role played by some digital platforms to a sporting match in which an athlete is also the referee, giving GCR USA flashbacks to the grade school game of “four square”. In the recess classic, four players are each assigned a box in the descending hierarchy of ace, king, queen and jack. Participants slap a gym ball into their opponents’ square, ideally in a manner that it is too difficult to hit back. On the blacktop, though, the ace sets the rules and often customises them in an arbitrary manner to retain power. Befuddled by the ace’s ability to now catch and dribble the ball indefinitely, the competition remain forever stuck in their squares.