From Cure to Care: The DMA’s Chronic Regulation Problem
The neo-Brandeisian movement—emphasizing market structure and fairness over consumer welfare—has struggled to gain traction in several jurisdictions. In Europe, by contrast, lawmakers have codified its core premises. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) operationalizes this approach by prioritizing ex ante structural interventions intended to reshape rivalry in digital markets.
The regime’s most significant feature lies not in its high-level goals, but in its enforcement tools. Through “specification proceedings” under Article 8(2), the European Commission has begun to move from policing competitive constraints to directing system design. The Commission’s recent actions involving Google and the Android ecosystem illustrate that transition most clearly.