経済法演習（外国語科目）

Big Tech companies such as Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple and Microsoft play an important role in the digital economy and in our daily lives. They have transformed how we shop, search and communicate and few of us would want to give up the convenience they bring. Yet the rapid growth and enormous power of these companies have also raised serious concerns. Have these companies become digital monopolies? Have they abused their market power to exclude smaller competitors? Have they become so large that they can no longer be regulated? Do they pose risks to democracy and other public values?

This course examines these questions primarily through the lens of competition law, while also paying close attention to other key areas of digital regulation. Big Tech is a natural subject for transnational legal analysis because these firms operate across borders in ways that no single legal order can fully capture. The main focus of the course will be on the approach in the EU, Japan and the U.S., and how these regimes interact, but developments in other jurisdictions may be discussed where relevant.

By the end of the course, students should be able to:
•Understand the main legal problems raised by Big Tech.
•Explain the legal tools used to address these problems.
•Describe and compare how the EU, Japan and the U.S. regulate Big Tech.

***This seminar is an exception to the "one seminar per semester rule", meaning you can take this seminar and still take another seminar.　1学期1演習の例外適用. The course will be taught as an intensive course (see schedule below).