The UK Competition Authority proposes the creation of a new regulatory authority and additional regulations to govern the conduct of online platforms funded by digital advertising

INTRODUCTION The CMA has recently issued its Final Report in the Market Study into Online Platforms and Digital Advertising (“Final Report”), which sets forth its findings and recommendations from its investigation of markets involving online platforms funded by digital advertising. In parallel, the CMA also is studying nonadvertising-funded platforms, and this work continues as part of the UK Digital Markets Taskforce, which has now also issued a Call for Information. The CMA’s studies add to the growing number of antitrust authorities that have conducted similar investigations about how antitrust laws should be applied to online platforms and digital markets. [1] Apart from modest changes to merger notification requirements (as described in our May 2017 Global Merger Control Update