Introduction

The Digital Competition Outlook provides insights into the key market and regulatory developments that are expected to shape priority topics in digital and competition policy in Europe and the United Kingdom over the coming year. It is designed to help government agencies, tech companies, and law firms prepare and navigate these new and complex issues.

Drawing on market and regulatory intelligence, the Outlook identifies 2025–2026 as pivotal years in four priority areas: artificial intelligence (AI), digital competition regimes, digital mergers, and competitiveness.

Technological advances in AI will continue to reshape digital markets. Rapid market developments in AI agents, web browsers, search engines, and cloud computing are driving innovation and competition, while also giving rise to emerging competition concerns.

In the field of digital competition regimes, jurisdictions will need to create consistent opportunities for stakeholders while avoiding disproportionate regulatory burdens on designated large online platforms. In Europe, the Commission is already reviewing the Digital Markets Act (DMA) two years after its enforcement began. In the United Kingdom, the Competition and Markets Authority is conducting market investigations to designate firms under its new regime. At the same time, several EU Member States have launched investigations that overlap with the DMA, underscoring the need for greater coherence within the internal market. Globally, as more jurisdictions adopt or propose digital competition regimes, fostering international alignment will be critical.

In digital mergers, competition authorities are adapting merger policies for the digital age. In Europe, the Commission is reviewing the EU Merger Guidelines, with plans to update the analytical framework for digital mergers. Several Member States, alongside the Commission, are exploring new tools to review below-threshold mergers, particularly in the digital sector, where targets often have little or no turnover. Authorities are also closely monitoring AI partnerships between developers and other industries, as well as “acqui-hire” transactions in which a company acquires staff and gains non-exclusive licences to use their IP technologies.

Finally, Europe aims to strengthen its European digital economy. This will require completing the Digital Single Market, removing barriers to harnessing data and digital technologies, and accelerating the adoption of AI.

 Each of these four areas is explored in a dedicated two-page chapter, providing an overview of the issues and highlighting the main policy challenges. They serve as a basis for deeper analysis in future work and collaborations. The author is available to discuss and present the Outlook to interested parties.