The discussion about the role of Antitrust in the digital
economy is a hot topic. Some groups advocate that there should be
more government intervention upon "tech giants" and, from
the enforcement perspective, the European Commission has been
taking the lead in this process. Commanded by Margrethe Vestager,
the European Commission has already imposed three million-dollar
fines on Google for abuse of dominant position. Such convictions
are controversial. Some academics and officials say regulators
should be wary of the dynamism of digital markets and avoid
imposing certain remedies, at the risk of discouraging
innovation.
In this scenario, one main question arises: what is the
appropriate level of enforcement against tech companies? In Brazil,
until last month, CADE had four different ongoing investigations
against Google. In the past weeks, three of such cases were
dismissed — providing clues about where the Brazilian
antitrust authority stands in this debate.
