The Abuse of Economic Dependence in Digital Markets ‒ Remarks Upon the Italian Case <i>Meta v. SIAE</i>

Abstract The Italian Parliament recently amended the provision of abuse of economic dependence to enrich the antitrust enforcement toolkit in response to challenges arising from digital markets. It introduced a rebuttable presumption of economic dependence for digital platforms and a non-exhaustive list of abusive practices whose anti-competitive effects are presumed. Starting from a comparison between two recent national cases which involve both competition and copyright issues (Meta v. SIAE and Google v. Press Publishers), the article analyses the new Italian provision questioning whether it may constitute a real remedy to complement the application of the abuse of dominant position in digital markets. The paper attempts an initial identification of the criteria that can help define the ‘key role’ of digital platforms in reaching end users or suppliers, including in terms of network effects or data availability. It also analyses the abusive conducts typified by the legislator, discussing under which conditions the contractual imbalance of rights and obligations reaches the anticompetitive threshold, producing effects on the market. Finally, it considers how to interpret the right of authors and performers to an appropriate and proportionate remuneration and the transparency obligation addressed by Arts. 18 and 19 of Directive (EU) 2019/790 (CDSM Directive). This leads to a comparative discussion of the French press publishers case which includes some considerations on their new rights introduced by Art. 15 of the CDSM Directive.