The Italian Competition Authority opens an investigation into Big Data

Following suit of other national competition authorities, the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) together with two other authorities, AGCOM (the Communications Authority) and the Data Protection Authority, has opened an investigation into the problems associated with the use of the so-called Big Data (decision no. 26620, IC 53 Big Data).
The acting authorities will assess whether reliance on Big Data might facilitate anticompetitive practices, hindering development and technological progress. The investigation will deal with the following factors:
-        impact of online platforms and the associated algorithms on the competitive dynamics of digital markets;
-        data protection;
-        the ability of consumers to choose;
-        the promotion of information pluralism.

In doing so, the acting authorities will also try to verify the impact on the digital ecosystem of information aggregation and of accessing to “big data” obtained through user profiling.

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