Antitrust is the primary consideration in the global digital market

Abstract

This article argues that antitrust regulation of digital data constitutes the paramount priority for governing the global digital market. It examines how platform giants—particularly the FAMGA firms (Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google)—leverage network effects, first-mover advantages, and massive user data accumulation to establish monopolistic dominance. Such concentration distorts competition and generates multifaceted harms: economically, through anti-competitive practices like Google's search bias; politically, by influencing democratic processes via algorithmic targeting (e.g., Trump's 2016 campaign); socially and ethically, by eroding privacy protections and enabling manipulation; and culturally, by imposing dominant national narratives (e.g., U.S. cultural hegemony via Netflix in Canada). The paper proposes UN-led global antitrust interventions—including cross-border digital tariffs, SME support, strengthened privacy and data localization frameworks, enhanced data transparency, and robust user rights protection—to rebalance power and safeguard democratic, cultural, and ethical integrity in the digital age.