Regulation fun with lawyers and economists
(Last Updated on 10 October 2025)
It is said by LinkTin influencers and other Sages that you should occasionally get out of your comfort zone and try to see things from a different angle. With this in mind, I went to Laaahhhhnnndaaaaahhn to attend the third annual UK Digital Markets Competition Regulation Forum. As Vivaldi’s solo Regulator-Botherer, I’ve had lots of dealings with regulators, competition lawyers and economists but, because I’m a grubby code monkey, don’t really understand their world view. It was time to change that.
As I approached the venue, I realised that this was a very different world from my usual habitat of web conferences. This was a grand nineteenth century building in Whitehall, on the banks of the Thames, and not the basement of a Travelodge in the outskirts of Reading.
Lots of people wearing what I believe are called “suit and tie” were milling around, being unostentatiously rich and brainy.
The central tension in discussions seemed to be about the speed of investigation and enforcement. While I absolutely agree that hastily drafted law always bites you on the arse (usually sooner rather than later), I had a lot of sympathy with Helen Kennedy-Shamir from Checkatrade and Alex Rennie from Skyscanner, who represent businesses that are getting hammered by Google’s “A.I. overviews” causing a considerable drop in traffic to their sites. Kennedy-Shamir was particularly forthright about how smaller businesses can’t wait for the CMA’s processes to churn on. In a different panel, Stephen McDonald from Which? magazine said the CMA hadn’t used its powers aggressively enough to ensure compliance.
On the other hand, other lawyers seemed concerned that things were galloping. One mentioned the tight time frames that the CMA gives to reply to mandatory requests for information that it issues “with death threats”. I too have struggled with these, for example, working until literally the last minute before a medical procedure to get some probably irrelevant historic statistics. So, dear CMA et al, spare a thought for those of us in smaller businesses who are the sole regulator-botherer, juggling RFIs and consultations from CMA, the EU, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Germany, Australia and more.
In a panel titled “Regulatory Coordination and the Growth Agenda”, Alex Olive from the Payment Systems Regulator mentioned how National Security concerns are part of Digital Markets regulation, and suggested that Twitler and Facebooks’ roles in influencing elections could be considered in the purview of regulators.
In the hallway track, I was most surprised to hear a lawyer for a UK bank mention “WebKit”, given that many web developers don’t know that Apple hobbles its competitors by requiring all iOS browsers to use its own clunky WebKit browser engine. Apparently UK Fintech suffers from Apple’s malicious compliance opening up the NFC chip on iOS, in the same way that browser makers are given impossible terms under which they can actually ship their own engines in the EU.
The head of the CMA’s new Digital Markets Unit, Euan MacMillan gave a speech (I wanted to quote some here, but the CMA press office declined to send it to me when I asked the next day, for Reasons). From Team SCiDA’s write-up of the day:
MacMillan confirmed that Parliament hadn’t provided clear objectives for the regime beyond the government’s request to unlock growth in the UK digital economy. This has required the CMA to develop its own interpretation of proportionate and effective intervention.
This worries me, as it presumably means the government can tweak or clarify objectives. The current Labour government is desperate for economic growth and seems to be in thrall to Big Tech, presumably because allowing them tax breaks for AI data centres will provide literally dozens of minimum wage jobs sweeping the server farm floors, while profits head straight back to Silicon Valley.
Big Tech also likes to tell governments that regulation “stifles innovation”, as if monopolists innovate. Ask yourself: what groundbreaking new products Microsoft or Apple have released in the last decade? The Gatekeepers make incremental tweaks or add rent-seeking services to their pre-stagnation products, and use their dominance to stifle innovative competitors.
Team SCiDA’s write-up of the speech continues
On Google Search, MacMillan emphasised the platform’s “key position” and outlined the three-category roadmap: Category 1 interventions (search screens, fair ranking, publisher control, data portability) as the highest priority; Category 2 focusing on Google’s bargaining position and treatment of rivals; and Category 3 covering other issues.
For mobile ecosystems, MacMillan highlighted the £1.5 billion contribution of app development to UK GDP and the CMA’s engagement with 190 stakeholders. The focus would be on app distribution conduct requirements, with Google facing requirements around fair and transparent ranking, while Apple would need to address interoperability for app developers and enable UK fintech wallets.
While nothing was mentioned about browser engines, I assume that will be covered by “interoperability for app developers”, the DMU’s most pressing concern about Apple. Unfortunately, in its proposed decision about Apple, the CMA noted:
Whilst the aim would not be to create a default interoperability requirement, it would aim to ensure that Apple’s decisions in respect of interoperability requests are fair, transparent and objective
Hopefully, the CMA will decide to listen to my response to the consultation, and decide it will create a default interoperability requirement after all, because I am correct and also lovely.
It was a jolly interesting day (and the lunch was very tasty, and the coffee decent). The comperes for the day, Verity and Tom, did a good job of ensuring the legal eagles didn’t beat each other up. I got to meet and hobnob with participants that I wouldn’t otherwise have met, and offered my services as a speaker at future events if they need a non-lawyerly perspective from a small tech firm that’s at the coal face. I’ll even wear a “suit” and a “tie”.