Regulating the Dual Role of Digital Platforms as Market Participants under Indonesian Competition Law
Keywords:
dual-role platforms, competition law, digital platforms, self-preferencing, market powerAbstract
The dual role of digital platforms as market organizers and business actors has raised competition concerns because platforms can control access, data, visibility, and competitive conditions within ecosystems in which they also compete. This study aimed to analyze the regulation of digital platforms’ dual role under Indonesian competition law, identify limitations in the legal approach, and formulate adaptive competition governance parameters. The study employed qualitative library research using a meta-ethnographic approach to seventy conceptually rich qualitative articles published between 2017 and 2025. The literature was systematically selected and analyzed through content and thematic analysis. The findings showed that a dual role was not inherently anticompetitive but created structural conflicts when control over market access, nonpublic data, recommendation systems, and product integration was converted into discriminatory capacity and competitive foreclosure risks. The study developed the Dual-Role Platform Competition Governance model, which positioned structural role conflict, discriminatory capacity, and competitive foreclosure risk as sequential regulatory assessment levels. This model contributed theoretically to competition law and provided a practical framework for proportionate, adaptive, risk-based oversight of digital platforms within the Indonesian legal context.
Downloads
References
Aridor, G., & Gonçalves, D. (2022). Recommenders’ originals: The welfare effects of the dual role of platforms as producers and recommender systems. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 83, 102845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijindorg.2022.102845
Bergemann, D., & Bonatti, A. (2024). Data, competition, and digital platforms. American Economic Review, 114(8), 2553–2595.
Bostoen, F. (2023). Understanding the digital markets act. The Antitrust Bulletin, 68(2), 263–306.
Cabral, L., Haucap, J., Parker, G., Petropoulos, G., Valletti, T. M., & Van Alstyne, M. W. (2021). The EU digital markets act: A report from a panel of economic experts. Cabral, L., Haucap, J., Parker, G., Petropoulos, G., Valletti, T., and Van Alstyne, M., The EU Digital Markets Act, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
Carugati, C. (2022). How to implement the self-preferencing ban in the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (Research Report No. 22/2022). Bruegel Policy Contribution. https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/274185
Chen, J. (2018). Switching costs and network compatibility. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 58, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijindorg.2017.12.003
Colangelo, G. (2023). Antitrust Unchained: The EU’s case against self-preferencing. GRUR International, 72(6), 538–556.
De Streel, A., Feasey, R., Krämer, J., & Monti, G. (2021). Making the Digital Markets Act more resilient and effective. Available at SSRN 3853991.
Dendorfer, F. (2024). First-party selling and self-preferencing. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 97, 103098. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijindorg.2024.103098
Deutscher, E. (2022). Google shopping and the quest for a legal test for self-preferencing under article 102 TFEU. European Papers-A Journal on Law and Integration, 2021(3), 1345–1361.
Dunne, N. (2022). Pro-competition Regulation in the Digital Economy: The United Kingdom’s Digital Markets Unit. The Antitrust Bulletin, 67(2), 341–366. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003603X221082733
Fast, V., Schnurr, D., & Wohlfarth, M. (2023). Regulation of data-driven market power in the digital economy: Business value creation and competitive advantages from big data. Journal of Information Technology, 38(2), 202–229. https://doi.org/10.1177/02683962221114394
Fletcher, A., Ormosi, P. L., & Savani, R. (2023). Recommender Systems and Supplier Competition on Platforms. Journal of Competition Law & Economics, 19(3), 397–426. https://doi.org/10.1093/joclec/nhad009
Franck, J.-U., & Peitz, M. (2024). The digital markets act and the whack-a-mole challenge. Common Market Law Review, 61(2).
Kittaka, Y., Sato, S., & Zennyo, Y. (2023). Self-preferencing by platforms: A literature review. Japan and the World Economy, 66, 101191.
Lundqvist, B. (2021). The Proposed Digital Markets Act and Access to Data: A Revolution, or Not? B. Lundqvist. IIC-International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, 52(3), 239–241.
Manne, G. A., Bowman, S., & Auer, D. (2021). Technology Mergers and the Market of Corporate Control. Mo. L. Rev., 86, 1047.
Monti, G. (2021). The digital markets act: Improving its institutional design. Eur. Competition & Reg. L. Rev., 5, 90.
Murniati, R. (2024). Self-preferencing: Practices and Characteristics of Abuse of Dominant Position in Digital Markets. Jurnal Persaingan Usaha, 4(1), 33–44.
Parker, G., Petropoulos, G., & Van Alstyne, M. (2021). Platform mergers and antitrust. Industrial and Corporate Change, 30(5), 1307–1336.
Peitz, M. (2023). How to apply the self-preferencing prohibition in the DMA. Journal of European Competition Law & Practice, 14(5), 310–315.
Petit, N. (2021). The proposed digital markets act (DMA): A legal and policy review. Journal of European Competition Law & Practice, 12(7), 529–541.
Podszun, R. (2023). From competition law to platform regulation–regulatory choices for the Digital Markets Act. Economics, 17(1), 20220037.
Podszun, R., Bongartz, P., & Langenstein, S. (2021). The digital markets act: Moving from competition law to regulation for large gatekeepers. J. Eur. Consumer & Mkt. L., 10, 60.
Rupprecht, P. (2023). From Competition Law to Platform Regulation–Regulatory Choices for the Digital Markets Act. Economics-The Open-Access, Open-Assessment Journal, 17(1).
Setyawati, R., Koos, S., & Jatmiko, Z. A. (2024). Data Driven Dominance in Digital Markets: Assessing Indonesian Competition Law in the Digital Age. Jurnal IUS Kajian Hukum Dan Keadilan, 12(2), 264–284.
Sukarmi, Tejomurti, K., & Silalahi, U. (2024). Digital market and its adequacy of merger assessment in Indonesian business competition law. International Journal of Law and Management, 66(6), 694–719.
van de Waerdt, P. J. (2025). Reinforcing data protection and competition through art. 6 (2) of the Digital Markets Act. International Review of Law and Economics, 82, 106265.
Wu, Q., & Philipsen, N. J. (2023). The law and economics of tying in digital platforms: Comparing tencent and android. Journal of Competition Law & Economics, 19(1), 103–122.
Zheng, K., & Philipsen, N. (2025). Regulation of Digital Markets with Competition Soft Law—A Law and Economics Perspective. Journal of Competition Law & Economics, 21(3), 433–458.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Dede Ilham, Husyam Usman, Muhammad Yani, Derriansya Putra Jaya (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This journal applies the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication. Under this license, others may copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source, and any derivative works are distributed under the same license.

