On October 10–11, the International BRICS Competition Law & Policy Centre at the Higher School of Economics (BRICS Centre) held a two‑day international seminar in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, titled “Platform Economy: Competition Law and Market Power of Digital Platforms.” The event brought together heads of competition authorities from BRICS+ countries and leading antitrust experts from around the globe.
Co‑organisers included the Competition Promotion and Consumer Protection Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Competition Policy & Consumer Rights Research Center under that Committee. Participants addressed a wide range of topics, including best practices for regulating competition in digital markets, the effect of artificial intelligence on platforms’ market power, and oversight of ecosystem mergers amid digital transformation.
Khalilillo Turakhujaev, Chairman, Competition Promotion and Consumer Protection Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, pointed out that the country’s rapidly evolving economy is drawing interest from global monopolists and major regional players, making equitable regulation of the digital economy and countering monopolistic powers on digital platforms essential.
In the photo: Khalilillo Turakhujaev © HSE University
Alexey Koshel, Vice‑Rector, HSE University, Russian Federation, underscored that the platform economy contributes substantially to employment and more than 5% of Russia’s GDP. He argued, however, that regulating digital platforms requires international cooperation, since no single country can fully meet the challenge alone.
In the photo: Alexey Koshel © HSE University
“In spite of all the advantages of the digital economy, each country by itself finds it extremely difficult to formulate effective regulation of digital platforms and ecosystems — especially given the need to offset already manifesting negative competition effects,”
Koshel said. He added that the gathering of scientists and regulators from leading countries makes today’s discussion especially significant.
Alexey Ivanov, Director, BRICS Centre, called for stronger cooperation among regulators to more effectively govern digital markets. He noted the absence of a systematic approach to assessing global mergers in digital marketplaces, and that antitrust authorities in BRICS often struggle to fully grasp the underlying economic strategies of such transactions. As part of the response, the Centre has proposed creating a shared platform (tentatively called the “Merger Radar”) to facilitate knowledge exchange and coordination in reviewing such mergers.
In the photo: Alexey Ivanov (right) © HSE University
Ivanov emphasized that modern markets are chaotic and unpredictable.
"Those who are able to navigate it achieve success — sometimes by chance. This is a radical departure from the industrial era, when growth, revenue, and efficiency were the result of clear strategy, expertise, and planning."
He urged regulators to accept that absolute predictability is not possible, and that in many cases the risk of under‑regulation may be greater than that of over‑intervention.
From China, Jia Yang, Deputy Head, Mergers and Acquisitions Research Department, State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), reported that digital platforms and their deals are subject to continuous oversight. He cited Article 19 of China’s Guidelines on Antitrust in the Platform Economy, which allows proactive investigations by SAMR — even when a transaction doesn’t cross formal notification thresholds—if evidence points to potential competitive harm.
One of the reasons why the European Union did not follow the path of creating multiple national digital regulation systems, but instead developed a single regulation for the entire region, is the issue of bargaining power, noted Ioannis Lianos, Professor of Law, University College London, UK (Former President of the Competition Commission of Greece). He argued that jurisdictional scale affects ability to negotiate better terms during merger reviews, and stressed that regional cooperation can strengthen a country’s bargaining position.
In the photo: Maxim Ermolovich © raqobat.gov.uz
Speakers also raised the growing role of artificial intelligence in amplifying market concentration. Search engine algorithms, for example, tend to favor incumbents with large datasets. Maxim Yermolovich, Minister for Competition and Anti-monopoly Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission, emphasized the importance of specialized teams capable of analyzing such algorithms, understanding their logic, modeling their effects, and identifying harms — even when causal links are not immediately clear.
In the photo: Mahmoud Momtaz © raqobat.gov.uz
Mahmoud A. Momtaz, Chairman, Competition Authority of Egypt, agreed that regulators must understand AI systems and use them themselves, for example, to detect collusion. Lianos further warned that self‑learning algorithms and large language models may pose risks of tacit coordination among AI systems — challenges that current laws struggle to address. He proposed expanding legal definitions of collusion, conducting preventive algorithm audits, and employing technological tools to support investigations.
Jia Kai, Associate Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, observed that the platform economy is increasingly shifting toward models where users interact through personal AI agents that automatically perform routine tasks.
“Who will be the subject of regulation in the future — the agent or the platform? If it is the agent, a major problem will arise: AI is difficult to explain and is often opaque. There is no clear cause-and-effect relationship, and this poses a serious challenge for regulation and antitrust policy.”
he stressed. On the other hand, there is an alternative scenario: agents do not replace platforms or people, but rather enhance them by performing routine or specialized tasks. The future of competition and regulation will depend on which path development takes — toward full autonomy of agents or their integration into the existing digital ecosystem.
Many developing countries are only beginning to devise approaches to digital market regulation, especially in light of AI’s rapid expansion. Speakers discussed varied tools — ex‑ante regulation, ex‑post enforcement, soft law instruments — and emphasized that young competition authorities should start by understanding how AI works and exploring regulatory options. Akari Yamamoto, Legal Officer Competition and Consumer Protection Branch, UNCTAD, advised incremental rather than sweeping reform, leveraging soft law, market studies, and existing legislation, as well as learning from other jurisdictions with similar markets.
To conclude, Alexey Ivanov called for decisive action. Key to progress, he said, is regulatory cooperation, including the sharing of confidential information. He noted that it is time for cooperation in the greater CIS space to move beyond formal contacts to real exchange of data and joint enforcement. On the second day of the seminar, the BRICS Centre delivered a Capacity Building Training for Competition Promotion and Consumer Protection Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan: “Regulation of Digital Markets in Emerging Economies,” followed by expert discussions on the strategy of competition law enforcement in the global digital economy.
