This Long article has been written by M. Nithya Sri. She is a 4th Year law student, pursuing BALLB from The Central Law College, Salem, Tamil Nadu.

ABSTRACT

The rapid ascent of big tech firms has fundamentally transformed global markets, challenging the efficacy of traditional competition laws. These digital conglomerates leverage vast data troves, sophisticated algorithms and expensive ecosystems to entrench their market position, often blurring the lines between innovation and anti-competition behaviour. The digital economy is increasingly dominated by a handful of technology giants whose control over data, infrastructure and algorithms challenges the underpinning traditional competition law. Special attention is paid to how algorithms and data collection practices are used to entrench monopolistic position, often in ways that are invisible or difficult to detect by regulators.
This paper also considers how privacy violations and opaque consent mechanics intersect with competition concerns, particularly through consumer lock-in and data-driven market advantages.