On August 29, 2019, the Japan Fair Trade Commission
("JFTC") published draft "Guidelines Concerning
Abuse of a Superior Bargaining Position under the Antimonopoly Act
on the Transactions between Digital Platform Operators and
Consumers that Provide Personal Information, etc."
("Guidelines") and opened the matter for public
comment.
Under the draft Guidelines, digital platform operators who
acquire personal information from consumers are subject to
additional regulations concerning their conduct. The draft
Guidelines characterize a "digital platform" as an
information technology system through which third parties provide
various services and that facilitates multi-sided markets with
multiple user segments. Online shopping malls, app markets, and
search engines all fall under this category.
