E-Marketplace Platforms Industry Review Preliminary Report: “Captain, an object is approaching”* Mert Karamustafaoğlu “Nothing is perfect.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince Introduction Charles Dickens begins his novel A Tale of Two Cities with one of the greatest opening lines of all time: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…” The change that competition law has been undergoing in recent years is truly astonishing. Digitalization, in particular, necessitates the rewriting of competition law rules. Competition law is at the center all questions regarding e-commerce and digital platforms. The aforementioned platforms, which have become prominent due to innovations in technology over the past 10 years, are primarily known today for their negative aspects in terms of competition law. For instance, the market power of these platforms and the “market foreclosure” effect created by that power, comes to the fore as an important problem. In fact, these platforms have become the main gateway to reach markets and consumers. Undertakings that do not comply with the rules set by the platforms are at risk of being left out of the market. While these discussions were taking place all over the world, the Turkish Competition Authority initiated a large number of sector inquiries, especially in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began. One of them was the E-Marketplace Platforms Sector Inquiry which was launched on 11.6.2020 and made a huge splash. A comprehensive * Article of December, 2021
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