ECIPE Webinar: What About Us? Consumer Response to the Digital Markets Act скачать в хорошем качестве

ECIPE Webinar: What About Us? Consumer Response to the Digital Markets Act

In this ECIPE online webinar, we discuss the impacts of the EU's DMA on consumers. The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) was introduced with the promise of empowering consumers, enhancing privacy, and making digital markets more contestable. Two years after its application, this promise remains largely unfulfilled – especially in Central and Eastern Europe. A new EPPP–ECIPE study, based on survey responses from 3,500 consumers across seven CEE countries, finds that most users have seen little tangible benefit from the DMA. Consumers continue to rely on the platforms they use, appreciating their reliability, functionality, and convenience. In contrast, DMA-driven regulatory changes have not produced meaningful improvements in affordability, privacy, or choice. Instead of reshaping consumer behaviour, the regulation has largely imposed additional layers of friction without clear gains. Usage patterns remain concentrated around a few trusted providers, reflecting consumer preference rather than regulatory intent. Contestability, in short, exists on paper – not in practice. This ECIPE webinar will bring together policy analysts, consumer experts, and researchers to discuss what these findings mean for the future of EU digital regulation. The discussion will explore why regulatory goals and consumer realities diverge – and how the DMA could be recalibrated to better serve Europe’s digital citizens. Key Questions to Be Addressed: 1. How do consumers in Central and Eastern Europe perceive the DMA’s impact on their digital lives? 2. Why have expected benefits such as affordability, privacy, and greater choice failed to materialise? 3. What explains the persistent dominance of major platforms despite regulatory intervention? 4. Should the EU reform or repeal certain DMA provisions to better reflect real-world consumer needs? 5. How can consumer perspectives from CEE inform the EU’s broader digital policy agenda? Speakers: Erik Szedély, Senior Analyst, European Public Policy Partnership (EPPP). He focuses on research and policy analysis related to legislative and regulatory developments in Slovakia and across the European Union. His expertise covers the technology sector, payments industry, and topics related to energy, renewables, and raw materials. Filip Kužma, Director, Smart Consumer Institute. His analytical work centres on the consumer impacts of regulatory and economic environments across technology, AI and digital policy, financial and housing markets, taxation, retail, and e-commerce. Jakub Hankovský, Managing Director, Ipsos Slovakia. He is an experienced researcher with over 13 years at Ipsos. As Country Manager for Slovakia, he focuses on innovative methodology and public opinion measurement. Moderator: Matthias Bauer, Director, European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE)