Market Intelligence

Competition authorities across the EU increasingly target personal devices and messaging apps during investigations, creating tension with fundamental privacy rights. Recent landmark rulings from European courts establish new protections requiring prior judicial review for searches of personal devices, while approving enhanced safeguards for keyword-based information requests that capture private communications.

The Competition and Markets Authority has imposed financial penalties on individuals for concealing evidence during a dawn raid for the first time, marking a significant shift in enforcement.

Until now, the UK’s digital markets regime has been aimed at consumer-facing technology: search engines, app stores, mobile operating systems. On 16 October 2026, the Competition and Markets Authority took it somewhere new, publishing a proposed decision to designate Microsoft as having strategic market status in respect of its business software ecosystem. It is the first time the regime has been turned on the software companies buy for themselves rather than the platforms their customers use.

The European Commission's revised Article 102 TFEU guidelines represent a significant shift in EU competition enforcement, moving away from economics-driven analysis toward formalistic presumptions of harm. Companies operating in digital markets face stricter scrutiny of pricing practices, platform access restrictions, and self-preferencing conduct, with the EC introducing controversial per se abuses and limiting cost-based defenses. This comprehensive analysis examines how the new framework affects exclusi

Which? has withdrawn part of its collective proceedings claim against Apple concerning non-purchasing iOS users after failing to secure funding to defend an appeal. The withdrawal raises questions about funding requirements for class representatives in competition law cases and leaves unresolved the controversial legal issue of whether "forgone consumer surplus" can be claimed as damages.

The Financial Conduct Authority has long held concurrent competition law enforcement powers alongside the Competition and Markets Authority, yet has rarely exercised them in practice. A recent case involving 11 commodity futures traders signals a potential shift in the FCA's approach to competition enforcement in financial services, raising important questions about compliance obligations for self-employed individuals and the firms that engage them.