The Need for a Fair Online World

The digital world draws us in more and more every day. The number of people who think that we have reached a point of no return is increasing rapidly. Digital platforms, on the other hand, are quite successful in guiding our habits, but in order for these systems, which we use free of charge in general, to develop themselves, they need to gain financial gain at some point. This is where brand communication comes into play, and digital platforms with different advertising models host the target audience, consumer perception and product sales equation. Could it be that the advertising options offered by the platforms, which provide a personal journey for brands to reach their potential customers, create a situation that violates the basic brand law?

Let's take Google as an example. As it is known through Google's advertising tool AdWords, pages can be highlighted in searches with keywords. Well, if the brand using a keyword in AdWords is not in a legitimate connection with that word, and if it uses the brand name of other businesses in order to benefit from the reputation of the brand created with that word, the positive impression and prestige it creates in the minds of the customers, this business has the right to the brand of other businesses. doesn't it count?

The European Union aims to make online marketplaces fairer with its new laws.

The European Union has introduced new laws to put an end to unfair practices that hinder competition by online platforms and app stores, imposing a major sanction on Amazon, Google, Apple and other tech giants. These laws are designed to prevent monopolization of digital platforms by promoting fairness and transparency between digital platforms and the companies that sell there.

The new laws aim to make businesses and digital platforms more transparent about whether internet companies give preferential treatment to their products, how search rankings are determined, and policies that directly affect their ability to sell on the platform.

Open Markets Institute CEO Barry Lynn advocated the enforced enforcement of antitrust rules against major technology platforms, saying, "These rules don't get to the heart of the problem. "The heart of the problem is that Google, Facebook and Amazon are manipulating the way people selling something interact with people buying something for their own benefit," he said. Lynn said the new laws lack the necessary regulatory elements to stop these manipulative practices, and instead focus on promoting transparency in the hopes that companies will only curb the dreadful practices.

Lynn says banning practices such as discriminatory pricing, data usage policies, information sharing, and other forms of preferential treatment is the only proven way to prevent companies from behaving unfairly. He sees India's recently adopted e-commerce regulations as a more effective method to combat unfair practices on online platforms.

The new laws already have to be approved by the Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers, which is likely to take place in April, although it has passed the commission.

The fact that online advertising and e-commerce, which are such an important marketing method in brand communication, create an unfair competition environment in some respects, can be considered as an issue that should not be skipped considering the new world dynamics. It seems that we need to raise awareness and plan adaptation in advance to prevent injustice by distributing justice properly.