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Digital Competition Conference 2026

At the Digital Competition Conference 2026, cutting-edge research will meet policy on the most pressing digital market competition issues of our time.

February 5 – 6, 2026

In-person and Livestreamed

Georgetown University Capitol Campus (500 1st St NW Washington, D.C. 20001)

Co-Sponsors

Yale Tobin Center’s Digital Economy Project, Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP)

The Knight-Georgetown Institute (KGI), the Yale Tobin Center’s Digital Economy Project, and Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) are pleased to co-host the Digital Competition Conference 2026 (DCC) in Washington, D.C. The DCC is an annual gathering where researchers, policymakers, businesses, litigators, and civil society experts explore the latest lessons, challenges, and opportunities in regulating and enforcing competition in digital markets.

The DCC is in-person in Washington, D.C., with a livestream option for those who wish to join remotely.

Hardly a day passes without competition regulation or enforcement involving tech companies appearing in news headlines. With digital platforms increasingly shaping how we search, communicate, transact, and interact online, the importance of effective competition policy has never been greater. The Digital Competition Conference is where research meets policy, providing a forum for evidence-based dialogue and a shared understanding of real-world regulatory and enforcement lessons, challenges, and opportunities for competition in digital markets.

From groundbreaking research to emerging enforcement actions, the 2026 program will address pressing issues in digital markets. Sessions will feature a mix of researchers, policy experts, and practitioners.

DCC 2026 Agenda

February 5, 2026

8:15-9:00	Breakfast
9:00-9:15	Opening Remarks by Alissa Cooper, Knight-Georgetown Institute \| Watch the Recording
9:15-10:00	Keynote: Prof. Julian Wright, National University of Singapore \| Slides \| Watch the Recording
10:00-11:15	Content, AI, and Antitrust Watch the Recording Madhavi Singh, Yale Law School Martin D’Halluin, NewsCorp Courtney Radsch, Open Markets Institute Moderator: Alissa Cooper, Knight-Georgetown Institute Related Paper: Layered Data, Layered Power: Rethinking Digital Competition in Generative AI Markets (Courtney Radsch) \| Paper
11:15-11:40	Break
11:40-12:45	International Regulatory Developments Watch the Recording Gunn Jiravuttipong, UC Berkeley Law Camila Pires Alves, Brazil Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) Vikas Kathuria, BML Munjal University Sangyun Lee, Kyoto University Moderator: Filippo Lancieri, Georgetown Law Related Paper: The Global Race to Rein in Big Tech (Gunn Jiravuttipong) \| Paper \| Slides
12:45-2:05	Lunch Panel: Institutional Design (1:00-1:50) Watch the Recording Felix Styma, iconomy & Innovate Europe Foundation Alexandre de Streel, U. of Namur & CERRE Jérémie Jourdan, Geradin Partners Moderator: David Hyman, Georgetown Law Related Papers: The Anatomy of the DMA Process: An Example of Responsive Regulation (Richard Feasey, Giorgio Monti and Alexandre de Streel) \| Paper
2:05-3:45	Privacy, Security, and Competition Watch the Recording “Security vs. Interoperability” Arguments: A Technical Framework (Daji Landis, New York University) \| Paper \| Slides Anonymizing search click-and-query data while maintaining utility (Joe Jerome, DuckDuckGo) \| Slides Competition and Privacy (Yifei Wang, University of Pittsburgh School of Business) The PET Paradox: How Amazon Instrumentalises PETs in Sidewalk to Entrench Its Infrastructural Power (Thijmen van Gend, TNO & Delft University of Technology) \| Paper \| Slides Discussant: Joe Calandrino, Carnegie Mellon University
3:45-4:00	Break
4:00-5:30	Nuances of Market Participant Behavior Watch the Recording Contestability and the Optimal Regulation of Social Media Platforms (Miguel Risco, Bocconi University) \| Paper \| Slides App Store Competition (Gaston Llanes, Catholic University of Chile) \| Paper \| Slides Sherlocking: The Effect of Platform-owner Entry on the Competitive Behavior of Third-party Firms (Ben Leyden, Cornell University) \| Paper \| Slides Exclusionary effects of incentive schemes: platform rewards and multi-homing in ride hailing (Sean Ennis, University of East Anglia) \| Paper \| Slides Discussant: Mike Walker, Durham University Business School and Frontier Economics
5:30-7:00	Poster Session Posters Being Presented: Algorithmic Tacit Collusion: Addressing the Gaps in Article 101(1)(a) of the TFEU (Emma Minerva Brambilla) \| Paper Competition by Design: Experimental Evidence on Search Engine Use and Choice Architecture Interventions (Kartikeya Kandula, Shaanan Cohney, Jonathan Mayer) \| Paper Defining ‘Real-Time’ A toolkit for assessing data portability under the DMA and digital competition laws (Thomas Carey-Wilson, Lisa Dusseault and Chris Riley) \| Paper Determinants and Effects of Buy Box Suppression on Amazon (Jeffrey Gleason, Shuo Zhang, Christo Wilson) \| Paper Economic Rationales for Regulating Behavioral Ads (Pegah Moradi, Cristobal Cheyre and Alessandro Acquisti) \| Paper Future proofing the DMA for Agentic AI – Lessons from the AI Act (Jan-Frederick Göhsl) \| Paper How to Regulate the Cloud: A Blueprint to Address the Market Failures and National Security Risks of Cloud Computing (Asad Ramzanali) \| Paper

February 6, 2026

8:15-9:00	Breakfast
9:00-9:45	Debate: Ecosystem Theories in Digital Markets Watch the Recording Fiona Scott Morton, Yale University \| Slides Ioannis Lianos, University College London (UCL) \| Slides Introduction: Jonathan Mayer, Princeton University Related Paper: Towards a Legal Theory of Digital Ecosystems (Ioannis Lianos, Klaas Hendrik Eller and Tobias Kleinschmitt) \| Paper
9:45-11:00	Building on Recent Antitrust Wins Watch the Recording Doha Mekki, UC Berkeley Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice Adam Gitlin, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia Austin Ostiguy, Office of the Tennessee Attorney General Jason Kint, Digital Content Next Moderator: Luther Lowe, Y Combinator
11:00-11:20	Break
11:20-12:30	Search and Ad Tech Watch the Recording Gatekeepers and Self-Preferencing: Incentives and Welfare Trade-offs in Two-sided Markets (Muxin Li, Fudan University) \| Paper \| Slides Who benefits from Google’s SERP? The impact of the DMA on the Air Travel Market (Joan Calzada, University of Barcelona) \| Paper \| Slides Beyond Search: LLM Adoption and the Concentration of Web Traffic (Cristiana Firullo, Cornell University) \| Paper \| Slides Discussant: Chiara Farronato, Harvard University
12:30-1:45	Lunch Lightning Talks from Poster Presenters Watch the Recording Future Proofing the DMA for Agentic AI – Lessons from the AI Act (Jan-Frederick Göhsl) Defining ‘Real-Time:’ A toolkit for assessing data portability under the DMA and digital competition laws (Thomas Carey-Wilson) How to Regulate the Cloud: A Blueprint to Address the Market Failures and National Security Risks of Cloud Computing (Asad Ramzanali) Economic Rationales for Regulating Behavioral Ads (Pegah Moradi / Cristobal Cheyre) Determinants and Effects of Buy Box Suppression on Amazon (Jeffrey Gleason) Competition by Design: Experimental Evidence on Search Engine Use and Choice Architecture Interventions (Kartikeya Kandula)
1:45-2:35	Innovation, AI, and Antitrust Watch the Recording Innovation Ecosystems in Antitrust (Ketan Ahuja, Harvard Kennedy School) \| Paper \| Slides What if disruption really happens – are competition law and digital regulation fit for a new era of AI-driven competition? (Jan-Frederick Goehsl, University of Muenster) \| Paper \| Slides Discussant: Chris Riley, Data Transfer Initiative
2:35-3:45	Interactive Session: AI Antitrust Theory of Harm Watch the Recording Interactive session led by Jonathan Kanter, Carnegie Mellon & Washington University in St. Louis \| Slides
3:45-4:00	Closing Remarks by Fiona Scott Morton \| Watch the Recording

Additional Papers Accepted for DCC Publication

Innovation or Infringement? Generative AI and the Potential for Exclusionary Abuse under Article 102 TFEU (Todd Davies) | Paper
Mergers and Cooptive Acquisitions (Alexandros Kazimirov) | Paper
Reverse Acquihires in AI (Justine Haekens) | Paper
The AI Infrastructure Revenue Gap: Implications for Market Structure and Competition (Mihir Kshirsagar and Felix Chen) | Paper
The Automated but Risky Game: Modeling and Benchmarking Agent-to-Agent Negotiations and Transactions in Consumer Markets (Shenzhe Zhu, Jiao Sun, Yi Nian, Tobin South, Alex Pentland and Jiaxin Pei) | Paper
The Iterative Nature of Digital Regulation: Stakeholder-driven enforcement in the DMA and DMCCA (Jasper van den Boom, Sarah Hinck, Rupprecht Podszun and Oles Andriychuk) | Paper
The Magical Number 2 (Minus Two): An Empirical Analysis on the Efficacy of Choice Screens to Increase Competition in Digital Markets (Omar Vasquez Duque) | Paper
The Platform-Property Paradox (Nikolas Guggenberger) | Paper
The Self-Preferencing Prohibition as a Fairness Provision (Andreas Haupt) | Paper

Platform Governance

Competition Policy

Research & Commentary

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