The Divergence Between Theoretical Analysis and Regulation of Digital Platform

Over the past decade, the rapid growth of digital platforms has fundamentally changed the dynamics of vertical chain interactions. As a result, there have been significant transformations in value chains, which in some cases have led to the withdrawal of previously key market players from the market interaction process. This leads to the destruction of existing business models and, as a consequence, calls into question the traditional principles of regulating contractual relations between market exchange participants. In the economic literature there is considerable variation in approaches to the definition of digital platforms equated with multilateral markets, but (Tirole, Rochet, 2006) emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between the concepts of unilateral and multilateral markets and analyzes the correlation of these concepts with the concept of platform. At the same time, platforms are also characterized by a great diversity and, accordingly, by their classification criteria. The diversity of criteria for classifying platforms and approaches to their definition in the economic literature is reflected in the practice of application of laws by regulatory authorities, making it quite a difficult task in the absence of a formally enshrined legal status of digital platforms in regulatory acts both in the Russian Federation and in the EU countries. This is due to the fact that digital platforms cannot be regarded solely as an additional distribution channel, for example, as an online store. Digital platforms are able to redistribute the incentives to make specific investments and the proportion of the division created in the interaction of the parties. The value is primarily created through the use of technologies to manage the access of users belonging to different markets to a certain amount of information.