Competition among digital platforms owners in the global economy

Abstract

Intensive development of digital technologies has resulted in the appearance of the phenomenon collectively known as GAFA, that is Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, namely the companies which have demonstrated the exponential growth of the market capitalization and the increasing market power over the last decade. There are two approaches to the explanation of the reasons why the greatest digital platforms are prevailing nowadays. Based on the market concentration on the given two market types, the first approach sets the scale effects and the network ones which are typical for the two-sided markets. The second approach primarily refers to the antitrust behavior of the digital platforms. Owing to the lack of the appropriate tools to assess the antitrust effects of the digital giants’ behavior the antitrust authorities apply various approaches.