IGF 2024 WS #108 Addressing the challenges of digital markets

    Organizer 1: Giuseppe Bianco, OECD
    Organizer 2: Francesca Casalini, 🔒
    Organizer 3: Clarisse Girot, OECD
    Organizer 4: Christian REIMSBACH-KOUNATZE, 🔒
    Organizer 5: Gallia Daor, 🔒

    Speaker 1: Masha Ooijevaar, Private Sector, Asia-Pacific Group
    Speaker 2: Simon McDougall, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
    Speaker 3: Alain Kapper, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

    Moderator

    Francesca Casalini, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization

    Online Moderator

    Giuseppe Bianco, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization

    Rapporteur

    Giuseppe Bianco, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization

    Format

    Roundtable
    Duration (minutes): 60
    Format description: The roundtable room layout is appropriate because it will allow the speakers and the moderator to engage fully with the workshop participants. The speakers will share and discuss innovative models and best practices, and the seating arrangement will facilitate the debate with the participants.
    The duration of 60 minutes is appropriate because it will allow for a short introduction by each of the speaker and leave ample time for discussion with the participants.

    Policy Question(s)

    A. How can regulators join forces across sectors and borders to coordinate and cooperate in addressing challenges stemming from digital markets and in anticipating them?
    B. What are the particular challenges developing and emerging economies may face in this context?
    C. What are the most urgent issues on which regulators should focus in their cooperation, for example privacy protection, AI, online safety, financial regulation?
    D. How can authorities engage more effectively with stakeholders at both the domestic and the international levels?

    What will participants gain from attending this session? Participants and attendees of the workshop will take away an understanding of the current challenges that digital markets pose for regulators and policymakers. They will gain new insights into the latest advances on regulatory co-operation on privacy, competition, and beyond, between agencies in different countries, and more generally across sectors and across borders. Thus, participants and attendees will acquire relevant knowledge and tools that they may leverage in their own geography, and this will help improve digital governance and strengthen institutions.

    SDGs

    Description:

    Over the last decades, policies on privacy and competition have become more intertwined, raising complex questions at their intersection. This is largely due to the rise of large online platforms whose data collection and processing practices may be associated with anti-competitive conducts, for instance AI markets.
    The workshop “Addressing the challenges of digital markets: regulatory co-operation on privacy, competition, and beyond” will explore online platforms’ business models and foster a much-needed dialogue between the privacy and competition communities to explore synergies and discuss possible frictions, e.g., data sharing that can enhance competition but endanger privacy. The workshop will focus on regulatory approaches, enforcement mechanisms, and potential areas and avenues for collaboration.
    This workshop will bring together experts in privacy and competition from authorities, law firms, business, and civil society. Through a panel discussion and case studies, this session will explore the data practices at the heart of the business models of online platforms, and related privacy and competition issues.
    The workshop will discuss innovative approaches to address the challenges these models raise. It will focus on models that have already shown concrete results, such as the UK Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum and South Africa Digital Regulators Forum.
    This workshop contributes to the IGF subtheme “Improving digital governance for the Internet We Want”, as it showcases current efforts to address digital issues and to promote greater cooperation. It can help disseminate relevant models for open, transparent, inclusive governance processes related to the use and evolution of the Internet, working towards the vision of achieving the Internet We Want.
    The workshop is also relevant to SDG target 16.6: “Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels”. It discusses effective institutional arrangements to allow regulators to work in partnership with other regulators, and facilitate more transparent decision-making and overall accountability.

    Expected Outcomes

    The workshop will feed into on-going work streams at the OECD, which focus on the intersection of data, privacy, and competition. It will provide evidence for the analytical and policy work of the OECD Working Party on Data Governance and Privacy and the OECD Digital Policy Committee, which helps orient countries’ digital policies.
    It will also provide a relevant platform for existing networks of digital regulators to share best practices with other countries at the global level. This will help disseminate relevant models for cooperation that will work towards Sustainable Development Goals’ target 16.6: “Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels”.

    Hybrid Format: The workshop is designed to facilitate interaction between onsite and online speakers and attendees. The moderator and two of the speakers will be onsite, whereas one speaker will be online. The presentations will flow seamlessly between onsite and online speakers.
    The attendees, both onsite and online, will be able to take the floor after the speakers’ presentations. The moderator will actively facilitate participation, also with innovative tools, such as the EasyRetro platform. This platform will allow attendees to add comments (anonymously or with their names, without prior registration) and provide their views on the policy questions (mentioned above).
    This will allow for an extremely interactive discussion, which will also involve those attendees who prefer not to take the floor. The moderator will also invite attendees to share their ideas on the topics that may be explored in future work by the OECD or the networks of digital regulators.