Reconciling Private Market Governance and Law: A Policy Primer for Digital Platforms

Abstract

This paper considers the development of digital platforms, their economic role and the policy approach which should apply to them. Digital platforms are heterogeneous, so no flavour of ‘platform regulation’ is likely to be appropriate across all platforms, whilst horizontal laws apply to platform and other business models alike. However, a unifying theme in relation to platforms is that they provide market governance via codes of conduct and software code. Rather than thinking of law as something that should simply be imposed on the market, we should therefore search for an accommodation or balance between law and 'code', given that they both provide governance.