Implementing the DMA: The Role of Behavioural Insights

Abstract

The Digital Markets Act (‘DMA’) is a key plank of the EU’s digital markets strategy. This article provides an overview of the role of behavioural insights in the DMA’s implementation. This is highly topical, since the initial implementation period is ongoing. The effectiveness of several DMA provisions will in practice depend on their impact on end user choices and the way in which the designated gatekeepers design the choice architecture within their user interfaces will be critical for this. We provide some overarching considerations relating to this design and then discuss the relevance for specific DMA provisions of some key well-documented behavioural effects such as saliency effects, ranking effects, default effects, social cues, choice overload, information overload, choice fatigue, obfuscation and shrouding, complexification, framing effects and timing effects. Our focus is on highlighting the potential issues, including in relation to circumvention risks. We note where empirical testing by the gatekeepers is likely to be useful in order to demonstrate their compliance with the DMA.

Keywords: platform regulation, gatekeepers, Digital Markets Act, tech, behavioural economics

JEL Classification: K, L