IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/telpol/v39y2015i6p502-514.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mandating portability and interoperability in online social networks: Regulatory and competition law issues in the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Graef, Inge

Abstract

Due to the relatively concentrated nature of the market and the predominance of Facebook, online social networking may be the next digital service facing scrutiny by the European Commission. This article analyzes two potential competition problems in online social networks from a legal perspective. Attention is paid to the extent to which switching costs and network effects give rise to data portability and social network interoperability issues. It is discussed whether competition enforcement or newly devised regulation may serve to resolve these potential competition issues. A comparison is made with the telecommunication sector where similar concerns were addressed by way of regulation imposing obligations of number portability and network interoperability on all market players. Because of this similarity, it is worth considering if any lessons can be drawn from the regulatory approach applied in telecommunications for online social networking. The fact that the portability and interoperability issues in social networks relate to personal data and not ‘merely’ to technology like in the telecommunication sector, leads to additional considerations in the data protection regime. As a result, data protection concerns also have to be taken into account when devising remedies for the online social network industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Graef, Inge, 2015. "Mandating portability and interoperability in online social networks: Regulatory and competition law issues in the European Union," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 502-514.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:39:y:2015:i:6:p:502-514
    DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2015.04.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596115000579
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.telpol.2015.04.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. E. Glen Weyl, 2010. "A Price Theory of Multi-sided Platforms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1642-1672, September.
    2. Katz, Michael L & Shapiro, Carl, 1985. "Network Externalities, Competition, and Compatibility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(3), pages 424-440, June.
    3. Peter Cauwels, Didier Sornette, "undated". "Quis pendit ipsa pretia: facebook valuation and diagnostic of a bubble based on nonlinear demographic dynamics," Working Papers ETH-RC-11-007, ETH Zurich, Chair of Systems Design.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lam, Wing Man Wynne & Liu, Xingyi, 2020. "Does data portability facilitate entry?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Florez Ramos, Esmeralda & Blind, Knut, 2020. "Data portability effects on data-driven innovation of online platforms: Analyzing Spotify," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(9).
    3. Engels, Barbara, 2016. "Data portability among online platforms," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 5(2), pages 1-17.
    4. Wellmann, Nicolas, 2019. "Are OTT messaging and mobile telecommunication an interrelated market? An empirical analysis," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9).
    5. Michael Wohlfarth, 2019. "Data Portability on the Internet," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 61(5), pages 551-574, October.
    6. Wohlfarth, Michael, 2017. "Data Portability on the Internet: An Economic Analysis," 28th European Regional ITS Conference, Passau 2017 169506, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    7. Arnold, René & Schneider, Anna & Lennartz, Jonathan, 2020. "Interoperability of interpersonal communications services – A consumer perspective," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3).
    8. Luria, Michal & Nicholas, Gabriel, 2023. "Understanding Innovation in Interoperable Systems: A Podcasting Case Study," OSF Preprints t65mw, Center for Open Science.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Doh-Shin Jeon & Nikrooz Nasr, 2016. "News Aggregators and Competition among Newspapers on the Internet," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 91-114, November.
    2. Lukas Stricker & Joël Wagner & Angela Zeier Röschmann, 2023. "The Future of Insurance Intermediation in the Age of the Digital Platform Economy," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-32, August.
    3. repec:hal:cesptp:hal-00980363 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2023_428v2 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Jonathan Bainée, 2012. "Les opérateurs de mobilité électrique et la problématique de la diffusion du véhicule électrique (VE)," Post-Print hal-00980363, HAL.
    6. Ramon Casadesus‐Masanell & Hanna Hałaburda, 2014. "When Does a Platform Create Value by Limiting Choice?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 259-293, June.
    7. Jullien, Bruno & Pavan, Alessandro & Rysman, Marc, 2021. "Two-sided Markets, Pricing, and Network Effects," TSE Working Papers 21-1238, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    8. Justus Haucap & Torben Stühmeier, 2016. "Competition and antitrust in Internet markets," Chapters, in: Johannes M. Bauer & Michael Latzer (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of the Internet, chapter 9, pages 183-210, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Hildebrandt, Christian & Arnold, René, 2018. "Marktbeobachtung in der digitalen Wirtschaft – Ein Modell zur Analyse von Online-Plattformen," WIK Discussion Papers 427, WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.
    10. Paul Belleflamme & Martin Peitz, 2018. "Platforms and network effects," Chapters, in: Luis C. Corchón & Marco A. Marini (ed.), Handbook of Game Theory and Industrial Organization, Volume II, chapter 11, pages 286-317, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Jingtao Yi & Jinqiu He & Lihong Yang, 2019. "Platform heterogeneity, platform governance and complementors’ product performance: an empirical study of the mobile application industry," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 1-20, December.
    12. Yue Liu & Rong Luo, 2023. "Network Effects and Multinetwork Sellers’ Dynamic Pricing in the U.S. Smartphone Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(6), pages 3297-3318, June.
    13. Jay Pil Choi & Christodoulos Stefanadis, 2022. "Network Externalities, Dominant Value Margins, And Equilibrium Uniqueness," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1805-1827, November.
    14. Xue Ding & Zhong Yang, 2022. "Knowledge mapping of platform research: a visual analysis using VOSviewer and CiteSpace," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 787-809, September.
    15. Chiu Yu Ko & Bo Shen, 2021. "Are dominant platforms good for consumers?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(3), pages 1364-1377, July.
    16. Adachi, Takanori & Tremblay, Mark J., 2020. "Business-to-business bargaining in two-sided markets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    17. Jørgen Veisdal, 2020. "The dynamics of entry for digital platforms in two-sided markets: a multi-case study," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 30(3), pages 539-556, September.
    18. He Huang, 2019. "How Does Information Transmission Influence the Value Creation Capability of a Digital Ecosystem? An Empirical Study of the Crypto-Digital Ecosystem Ethereum," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-16, September.
    19. Tremblay, Mark J. & Adachi, Takanori & Sato, Susumu, 2023. "Cournot platform competition with mixed-homing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    20. Mohammed Mardan & Mark J. Tremblay, 2022. "Network Effects: Betwixt and Between," CESifo Working Paper Series 10082, CESifo.
    21. Andre Veiga & E. Glen Weyl, 2011. "Multidimensional Heterogeneity and Platform Design," Working Papers 11-33, NET Institute, revised Nov 2011.
    22. Yang Geng & Yulin Zhang & Jing Li, 2023. "Two-sided competition, platform services and online shopping market structure," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 138(2), pages 95-127, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:39:y:2015:i:6:p:502-514. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.