Platform Competition Under the Ambiguous Two-Sided Market Theory

Abstract

The concept of two-sided markets tries to describe certain characteristics of today's big platforms. Despite attracting a great deal of academic interest, closer inspection shows that the theory suffers from a great deal of ambiguity. This paper attempts to highlight these fundamental ambiguities surrounding the two-sided market theory and - by examining contemporary antitrust lawsuits - illustrate how the two-sided market theory fails to ensure platform competition.

Keywords: two-sided markets, antitrust, Epic Games v. Apple, Amex, Filistrucchi, competition, anti-steering, anti-steering rules, Google, Uber, Amazon, Facebook, Ohio v. American Express, Eu Commission, net harm, exchange of information