Defining fairness in digital: how to operationalise an ideal?

Behrang Kianzad, researcher at Lund University School of Economics and Management, ponders the idea of fairness in EU regulation. It will be difficult to find someone who would argue in favour of a world that is unfair, yet the idea of fairness is not as universal as it may seem, nor is it easy to operationalise. The Commission attempts to do so in new regulation such as the DMA. Important questions remain: what is fair, and what limiting principles are there? Hereunder, Behrang shares his thoughts about the concept of fairness, how it found its way into regulation, and how we can operationalise the concept in a consistent manner.