This Executive Seminar will present and debate the findings of a new CERRE research project on 'Remedying intermediation bias by vertically integrated digital platforms’. 

The past 5 years have seen a growing interest amongst European policy-makers in the concept of ‘platform neutrality’. Consumers face an abundance of choices in today’s digital world. Platforms perform a function of intermediary in filtering and organising these options for consumers.

Users’ attention is a scarce good and concerns about the capacity of digital platforms to direct a consumer’s attention towards some businesses and away from others have increased, especially for vertically integrated platforms.

Can digital vertical integration be compatible with ‘neutrality’?

Biased intermediation is expected to become an ever greater concern as a consumer’s attention is likely to become even scarcer, and hence more valuable. This report examines the challenges of designing and implementing remedies to address certain form of discrimination or ‘intermediation bias’ by vertically integrated digital platforms.

Join key actors from the digital sector, including representatives of platforms, telecom operators, regulatory authorities, policy-makers and academic experts, for an afternoon of stimulating discussions.