When tickets for Taylor Swift’s latest tour went on sale in November, Ticketmaster was overwhelmed by forces inside and outside of its control, which resulted in a ticketing fiasco. Looking for reasons, many seized upon Ticketmaster’s market po

12. ASCOLA 2022

Jul 12th, 2022 19m 47s

At the end of June 2022, the yearly conference of the Academic Society for Competition Law (ASCOLA) took place in Porto. In between panels of what is perhaps the most important antitrust conference of the year, Kay and Friso caught up with some

11. What About Microsoft? (Part 2)

Jun 14th, 2022 37m 38s

The European Commission’s cases against Microsoft in the 2000s set the framework for the assessment of abusive conduct related to product integration and interoperability, and Microsoft became the first “big tech” company with direct experience

10. What About Microsoft? (Part 1)

Jun 1st, 2022 33m 53s

Depending on the day of the week, Microsoft is the most valuable company in the world, or at least in the top 5. It’s one of GAFAM, the five “big tech” companies presumptively labeled as “digital gatekeepers” to which new ex-ante antitrust rule

9. Gaming Industry Consolidation

Feb 14th, 2022 28m 20s

At the start of 2022, the gaming market was shaken up by a series of acquisitions, including Microsoft/Activison Blizard, Sony/Bungee and – last but not least – New York Times/Wordle. In this episode, we examine the current state of the gaming

8. The CMA’s FB/GIPHY Decision

Feb 4th, 2022 30m 27s

In May 2020, Facebook (now Meta) acquired the gif library GIPHY. The UK’s competition authority (the CMA) started investigating the merger and finally, in November 2021, ordered Facebook to sell GIPHY again. In this episode, we examine the CMA’

7. The Google Android Appeal Hearing

Oct 12th, 2021 42m 46s

In this episode, we walk through the General Court hearing in the Google Android case, which took place in Luxembourg from 27 September until 1 October. Google appealed to the General Court the European Commission’s 2018 4.3B EUR fine for abuse

6. The Vertical Block Exemption (VBER) Review

Sep 30th, 2021 20m 17s

In this episode, we look at the Commission's draft Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and associated Guidelines, which are set to replace the existing 11 year old legislation in advance of its expiration. The Commission has been consult

5. Google’s Commitments and Designer Antitrust

Jul 12th, 2021 37m 20s

In this episode, we dive into Google’s latest antitrust commitments in Europe. In June, we saw commitment decisions on Google’s ad-tech stack and its planned ‘Privacy Sandbox’ (under French and UK competition authorities' oversight) as well as

4. Europe's Proposed Digital Markets Act (Part 3)

Jun 22nd, 2021 30m 48s

In this episode, we wrap up our 3-part introduction on the EU’s proposed Digital Markets Act (DMA), with a critical look at defenses and differences with traditional antitrust, the potential to harmonise national rules for platform conduct, and

3. Europe's Proposed Digital Markets Act (Part 2)

Jun 18th, 2021 15m 58s

In this second episode on the EU’s proposed Digital Markets Act (DMA), we take a closer look at the obligations and prohibitions to be imposed on designated ‘gatekeepers’. Particular attention is given to how the DMA’s provisions complement or

2. Europe's Proposed Digital Markets Act (Part 1)

Jun 16th, 2021 23m 44s

In the first of a three-part series, we dive into the EU’s proposed Digital Markets Act (DMA). This episode explores the DMA's background, why the EU finds this new regulation necessary, which platforms could be designated as ‘gatekeepers’ subj

1. Antitrust Enforcement in Tech

Jun 16th, 2021 50m 44s

In this first episode, we offer a bird’s-eye view of the antitrust enforcement landscape in the tech sector, both at the EU and the Member State level. We cover previously adopted decisions and judgments as well as the plethora of ongoing inves

Trailer

0. The Pilot

Jun 15th, 2021 14m 59s

Welcome to MONOPOLY ATTACK — a podcast on tech antitrust policy from Brussels. In this pilot episode, we introduce ourselves and our background, share some initial views on the tech sector, competition law and first principles, and explain our

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