In this episode, Anush and Kena welcome Dr Zlatina Georgieva from Utrecht University to discuss her recent research on EU competition law.

We explore her work with Malgorzata Kozak on why escaping liability under Article 102 remains as elusive as finding a unicorn, how the Intel case changed the evidentiary landscape for dominant undertakings, and why the European Commission's proposed break-up of Google's AdTech business may not go far enough.

Zlatina introduces 'marketised monetisation,' a novel remedy devised with Todd Davies that would let consumers choose which advertising network monetises their use of Google's platforms. We also preview her forthcoming work on aligning defences under Article 102 and the Digital Markets Act.

In this episode, Anush and Kena are joined by Friso Bostoen, Assistant Professor of Competition Law and Digital Regulation at Tilburg University, to explore the competition policy challenges posed by AI agents.

The conversation examines whether the EU's Digital Markets Act is equipped to handle autonomous AI systems that can book flights, make purchases, and interact with businesses on our behalf. Friso shares his analysis of how existing gatekeeper obligations apply to this emerging technology, the regulatory gaps that remain, and why today's tech giants may be best positioned to dominate the AI agent market.

The discussion also turns to Friso's recent work on putting a price on AI training data, exploring what lessons competition law can draw from frameworks governing standard essential patents, collecting societies, and platform publisher negotiations.

In this episode, Anush and Kena sit down with Dr Behrang Kianzad, founder of FIDMA and senior researcher at Malmö University, to explore why fairness is re-emerging as a central concept in antitrust after decades of efficiency-dominated thinking.

Behrang takes us through his 'Neo-Kantian' approach to competition law, the behavioural economics evidence showing humans are hardwired for fairness, and what the Digital Markets Act's emphasis on 'unfairness' means for enforcement. We also discuss COVID-19 price gouging, the Meta/Facebook case, and whether traditional fairness concepts can apply to AI-driven algorithmic pricing.

A must-listen for anyone interested in the philosophical foundations of competition policy and where digital markets regulation is heading.

In this episode, Anush and Jasper are joined by Dr. Alissa Cooper, Executive Director of the Knight-Georgetown Institute, to discuss KGI's recent submissions to competition authorities on both sides of the Atlantic regarding Google's search monopoly. The conversation begins with the CMA's provisional designation of Google under the UK's new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act. Alissa explains why KGI supports the designation but criticizes the intervention roadmap for prioritizing ineffective measures like choice screens and data portability over more impactful remedies such as restricting default payments and requiring data sharing.

The discussion then shifts to Judge Mehta's remedies decision in the US Google search case, where Alissa unpacks the concerning contradictions in allowing default payments to continue despite the liability opinion's thorough documentation of their anticompetitive harm. She examines the risks of courts over-relying on limited empirical evidence, and why expectations of hypothetical future AI competition are insufficient to address Google's present monopoly.

Drawing on her unique background spanning Internet standards, policy advocacy, and industry leadership, Alissa offers cross-jurisdictional lessons on designing effective interventions in complex technology markets and identifies fundamental principles that competition authorities are missing in their approaches to digital platform regulation.

Anush and Kena are joined by Dr. Deni Mantzari, Associate Professor in Competition Law and Policy at UCL and co-Director of the Centre for Law, Economics and Society, for a compelling conversation about fair pricing in digital platform ecosystems. We explore her groundbreaking research on FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) pricing for app store access under the EU's Digital Markets Act. Deni challenges traditional pricing models and proposes a principles-based framework that recognizes how value is jointly created in digital ecosystems, arguing that platforms shouldn't be compensated for 'network-effect rents' that arise from ecosystem lock-in rather than genuine innovation.

We discuss why the European Commission has focused on promoting contestability rather than tackling pricing fairness directly, how digital platforms differ fundamentally from traditional utilities like telecoms, and what institutional challenges arise in measuring reciprocal benefits between platforms and developers. Deni also shares insights from her recent Research Handbook on Data, Privacy and Competition Law, exploring the disciplinary tensions between economists, computer scientists, and legal scholars in digital market regulation. Essential listening for anyone interested in competition law, platform governance, and the future of digital regulation.

In this episode, Anush and Kena sit down with Dr. Viktorija Morozovaite, Postdoctoral Researcher in EU Competition Law and Digital Regulation at Utrecht University, to explore three cutting-edge themes at the intersection of competition law, technology, and democracy.

Viktorija unpacks the concept of hypernudging: the sophisticated behavioural manipulation tactics employed by digital platforms that go far beyond traditional nudging. We examine why these practices raise specific concerns under Article 102 TFEU and how they fundamentally challenge conventional competition law frameworks.

We delve into her groundbreaking work on discursive power, exploring how Big Tech companies wield influence over public discourse in ways that differ fundamentally from traditional media. Viktorija introduces an analytical framework distinguishing between 'power behind discourse' (structural control) and 'power in discourse' (content and access), and makes a compelling case for why competition law should engage with these democracy-protecting concerns alongside newer regulations like the Digital Services Act.

Finally, we discuss the European tech scaleup gap and Europe's strategic dependencies on US and Chinese digital infrastructures. Viktorija explains how cooperative innovation could help European firms scale up, and examines how competition law and the Digital Markets Act interact with these efforts.

Join Anush and Kena as they welcome Dr Magali Eben from the University of Glasgow School of Law for a discussion on digital platform regulation. The conversation begins with press publisher rights in the digital age, examining whether digital markets legislation can effectively address the challenges facing publishers or if more comprehensive interventions are needed beyond competition policy frameworks.

The discussion then explores the UK's CMA's growth agenda and provides a comparative analysis of the DMCCA and DMA, examining their key differences in approach. Magali offers insights into how the UK's distinctive regulatory path compares with the EU's framework and what these divergent approaches mean for competition law enforcement in digital markets.

The episode concludes with insights into Magali's influential research on market definition for online services that has shaped regulatory debates in digital markets, drawing on her expertise as Subject Lead for the International Competition Law and Policy LLM at Glasgow and Vice-President of ASCOLA.

Join hosts Anush and Kena as they speak with Dr Sangyun Lee, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Kyoto University, about South Korea's evolving approach to digital platform regulation.

Sangyun traces his journey from Korea University through multiple Korean regulatory agencies to his currentresearch position, exploring why economic dependence on platform giants has shaped Korea's cautious regulatory stance. The conversation examines the Korea Fair Trade Commission's (KFTC) proposed shift from DMA-style ex-ante rulestoward a flexible, rebuttable presumptions framework and whether this "middle path" represents pragmatic adaptation or regulatory hesitation.

The discussion covers Korea's ‘enlightening the ignorant’ strategy of expert-led policymaking, the wholesale adoption of the EU's Platforms-to-Business Regulation, and the controversial Korea Communications Commission app market legislation. Sangyun offers critical insights into whether Korea's platform market genuinely lacks the evidence for strongerintervention, and what lessons Korea's experience holds for other jurisdictions navigating platform regulation

In this episode, Anush and Kena are joined by Madhavi Singh, Deputy Director of the Thurman Arnold Project and Resident Fellow at Yale Law School, as they explore the collision between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and competition law. This episode examines the Stargate Project (a $500 billion joint venture between OpenAI, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, and Arm) and asks whether such massive-scale AI partnerships raise unique competition concerns for regulators.

The discussion ranges from Google's evolving role in search markets (has it "broken its original bargain" by shifting from indexing to AI model training?) to the practical challenges of transatlantic regulatory divergence. Madhavi draws on her research to contrast the EU's early-mover approach to platform regulation with the US approach, examining whether the DMA's swift action on AI Overviews offers a template for addressing publisher concerns, or whether both jurisdictions risk stifling innovation at a critical moment in AI development.

Whether you're tracking how competition authorities assess AI investments, curious about the evidence on AI features affecting publisher traffic, or interested in why the same regulatory questions produce different answers across the Atlantic, this conversation offers grounded analysis on where antitrust law meets the digital age.

In this episode, Anush and Kena were joined by Professor Shilpi Bhattacharya, Professor of Competition Law at O.P. Jindal Global University, India, and a leading scholar at the intersection of competition law, behavioral economics, and digital markets. With a PhD from Erasmus University Rotterdam and extensive practice experience, she brings a uniquely global perspective to understanding India's rapidly evolving digital economy and has become one of the foremost voices on Indian competition law.

The conversation explores India's emergence as a fascinating laboratory for digital competition issues, from WhatsApp's privacy policy controversies to e-commerce platform regulations. Shilpi shares insights on the Draft Digital Competition Bill, platform market regulation, and how India as one of the world's fastest-growing digital markets is shaping its competition law framework for the digital age, including key lessons that compare approaches in the EU and U.S.