The European Commission is preparing to examine the use made by businesses of algorithms on the Internet, to see whether these tools allow companies' participation in cartels to fly under the radar.
In a speech in Germany on Thursday 16 March, the Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, explained that automatic adjustment systems are frequently used. Certain retailers use these to monitor prices set by their competitors and some of them to adjust their prices automatically. The Commissioner took the example, in the US, of two businesses selling posters of musical artists and used algorithms to keep their prices in line. “We need to make it very clear that companies can't escape responsibility for collusion by hiding behind a computer program”, the Commissioner explained.
Algorithms are not systematically a competition issue, but if they are used to make cartels easier, “we may need to reflect that in the fines we impose”, she concluded. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)