Journal of Legal Research

Journal of Legal Research

Convergence of unilateral anti-competitive practices with violation of the privacy right of cyberspace users (with emphasis on the European Union's jurisprudence)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Sanam Rahmanpour
Esmail Abbasi
Mohammad hossein Erfanmanesh
Department of Private Law, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
10.48300/jlr.2024.481672.2762
Abstract
The right to privacy in cyberspace is a fundamental human right. This right mainly refers to the ability of users to control their personal information. This information has an economic value and a competitive advantage from the point of view of competition law. Big dominant platforms, without observing the legality principle in collection and processing, like obtaining informed consent and transparency in processing, collect and process personal information and provide grounds for violating the right to privacy or reducing the level of protection. Examining the links and common goals between the two legal regimes of data protection law and competition law, including welfare, guaranteeing fairness, individual sovereignty, improving transparency, and reducing power asymmetry and information asymmetry, and examining the European Union jurisprudence indicates which, in addition to the price parameter, quality, and the user choice parameters, are also effective parameter in the competition between platforms, and protecting the privacy of users is a non-price parameter of the competition, and therefore, considering the convergence of the two legal regimes, reducing the level of privacy or violating the right of privacy can be considered as reducing the quality and scope of users choice and as an example of unilateral anti-competitive practices, including abuse of dominant position and merger.
Keywords
Privacy rights violation
Unilateral
Anti-competitive practices
Convergence
CyberSpace