Asian Institute of International Financial Law (AIIFL), HKU

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HKU Competition Law Lecture Series

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HKU Competition Law Lecture Series

EU Big Tech Laws: An Emerging Public Utilities Regulation

Competition and Antitrust

Date & Time Tuesday, 14 April 2026 6:00-7:00 pm (HKT)
Duration 1:00
Location Academic Conference Room, 11/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong
New update Recording available

This talk will discuss whether the recently implemented EU Big Tech regulations — the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act — can be interpreted as a form of public utilities regulation for big tech platforms.

Professor de Streel will start discussing what are the objectives and obligations established by these laws, along with the institutional ecosystem designed to ensure effective compliance and enforcement. He argues that their overarching goal is to diffuse and better govern the power of Big Tech, thereby restoring the early promises of the Internet.

He then submits that while not originally conceived as public utility regulation, these laws share several of its core features and may represent an emerging form of such regulation.

This talk is based on a paper which is available on https://ssrn.com/abstract=5664610 .

About the Speaker

Professor Alexandre de Streel

Academic Director, Digital Research Programme, Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) at Brussels

Alexandre de Streel is academic director of the digital research programme at the Brussels think-tank Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE), professor of European law at the University of Namur and visiting professor at the College of Europe (Bruges) and SciencesPo Paris. He sits in the scientific committees of the Knight-Georgetown Institute (US), the European University Institute-Centre for a Digital Society (Italy) and Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation (Germany). His main research areas are regulation and competition policy in the digital economy (telecommunications, platforms and data) as well as the legal issues raised by the developments of artificial intelligence. He regulatory advises the European Union and international organisations on digital regulation. Previously, Alexandre held visiting positions at New York University Law School, European University Institute in Florence, Panthéon-Assas (Singapore campus), Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and the University of Louvain. He also worked for the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, the Belgian Permanent Representation to the European Union and the European Commission and has been the chair the expert group on the online platform economy advising the European Commission.

Chair

Professor Adrian Kuenzler

AIIFL Fellow and Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong