Digital Economy and Platform Markets

The Digital Economy and Platform Markets

In the coming decades, the digital transformation will sweep through and disrupt the physical economy, with new technologies and businesses emerging and resulting in issues that will be resolved in court, before regulators, and by legislatures.

Digital businesses are frequent subjects of lawsuits, government investigations, and regulatory initiatives. These disputes often turn on unique economic and technical aspects of digital businesses—such as big-data–driven algorithms, network effects, and online auctions—that require specialized expertise. Many prominent cases involve antitrust and mergers. Others concern consumer protection, employment, securities, bankruptcy, and crypto.

BRG has the world’s leading experts in the digital economy. They have testified in jurisdictions including the United States, European Union, China, and Korea. Our team includes the foremost experts in platform economics and specialists in big data, which are often key for handling cases involving digital businesses. We staff typical cases with top economic scholars, deep subject-matter specialists, and data scientists with experience handling massive databases. Key experts are listed below.

Platforms have become particularly important in the digital economy as internet technology facilitates massive connectivity and software technologies facilitate interactions and reduce transaction costs. Platforms are often at the center of large digital ecosystems such as mobile apps and online marketplaces. They also feature prominently in traditional sectors such as credit cards.

The field of platform economics has developed deep knowledge about these businesses and their fundamental differences from traditional businesses. Sound application of platform economics is critical for disputes involving digital businesses, such as how to measure the impact of practices on economic welfare or assess whether a platform is a bottleneck for competition.

BRG experts have served on matters involving most of the world’s large digital platforms and across almost all major products and services provided by digital businesses. Several have authored award-winning books and oft-cited articles on the digital economy and platform markets. The US Supreme Court cited scholarly work by David Evans and Richard Schmalensee in the seminal American Express decision, and many BRG experts have testified in platform cases in the United States, European Union, and other jurisdictions.

Digital Economy Sectors

Key digital economy sectors include online media and advertising, e-commerce and various online consumer and B2B marketplaces, software platforms and apps, ridesharing and other gig-economy businesses, health tech, and online gaming, as well as infrastructure providers such as fixed and mobile broadband and cloud services. New sectors, such as generative artificial intelligence (AI)-based platforms and apps, are rapidly taking shape.