ERDEM-NEWSLETTER-2018-metin

79 COMPETITION LAW Recent Developments in Abuse of Dominance Concerning Online Platforms * Att. Can Yildiz Introduction As we delve deeper into the cyber era, we observe that vast online platforms, such as Amazon, Booking.com, and Google have a strong – and ever-increasing – presence throughout the globe. Indeed, we tend to utilize different online platforms in our daily lives, and there is a wide set of different businesses commonly categorized as online platforms, from marketplaces/online retailers (e.g., Amazon) to trans- portation intermediaries (e.g., Uber), from hotel reservation services (e.g., Booking.com) to search engines (e.g., Google), and from online advertising platforms (e.g., Google’s AdSense) to accommodation systems (e.g., Airbnb). Although general competition law principles apply to such online platforms without any doubt, cases concerning online platforms give rise to many novel questions, especially in regard to the application of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”) in Europe, as well as the corresponding rules in local com- petition law regimes. Compared to traditional markets, or “analog markets” as some refer to them, the definition of the relevant market and the assess- ment of market power in online platforms differ considerably, and are fraught with uncertainties. Despite these uncertainties in the competi- tive assessment, competition authorities worldwide are increasingly focusing on online platforms. In this article, a more recent example of abuse of dominance allegation against Amazon will be examined, * Article of December 2018