E-COMMERCE LAW AND ASYMMETRIC POWER BALANCE IN DIGITAL MARKETS
Marketplace Hegemony and the Legal Limits of Free Trade E-commerce law is an asymmetric field of power where, on one side, massive intermediary service providers (marketplaces/platforms) governing billions of dollars in transaction volume globally exist, and on the other, small and medium-sized sellers and consumers striving to survive in this ecosystem. The shift of commercial activities from physical stores to digital platforms has empowered platform owners to control sellers’ profit margins and visibility through algorithms and to monopolize channels for reaching customers. The primary mission of the law in this field is to protect free market conditions, prevent platforms from misusing this monopolistic power to commit “unfair commercial practices,” and regulate electronic commerce.
Heavy Administrative Obligations and the Regulation of Electronic Commerce The Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce and related legislation impose a massive legal compliance burden on e-commerce actors, ranging from the mandatory registration in ETBİS (Electronic Commerce Information System) and commercial electronic message (İYS) permissions to distance sales agreements and the full enforcement of the right of withdrawal. Administrative fines imposed as a result of consumer complaints or audits by the Competition Authority/Ministry of Trade are of a nature that can terminate the commercial life of e-commerce companies. On the other hand, actions by platforms such as unjustly closing stores, confiscating internal balances (accrued receivables), or algorithmically hiding sellers cause damages that are difficult to remedy for sellers.
Proactive and Commercial Law Strategy in E-Commerce Disputes Disputes between actors in the digital market require an integrated approach handling commercial law and consumer legislation:
- Securing the financial rights of sellers by having unilateral and unfair penalty clauses or deduction of receivables in the contracts of massive e-commerce platforms annulled in Commercial Courts of First Instance,
- Having e-commerce content that causes trademark infringement (sale of fake/counterfeit products) or unfair competition immediately removed from platforms through preliminary injunction orders,
- Ensuring that heavy administrative fines imposed by the Ministry and the Competition Authority are subjected to annulment actions before the Administrative Judiciary, taking legality, proportionality, and market dynamics into consideration.
The objective is to establish legal transparency in digital markets and not leave free competition to the mercy of algorithms.
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