In line with global trends, competition authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean have dealt with a growing number of cases in digital markets targeting a range of different competition issues, including exclusivity agreements and MFNs, the use and combination of data, tying and bundling practices and self-preferencing behaviour. It is evident that this is a recent and emerging trend, given that most of the key cases discussed in this paper have arisen in the past five years.
Moreover, while other competition authorities may not yet have undertaken extensive enforcement action in digital markets, the growing centrality of this sector combined with the local nuances of these markets will require ongoing scrutiny by these authorities.1 Indeed, the cases canvassed in this paper show that many investigations have focused on so-called ‘local techs’, with market power at the national or regional level, alongside global ‘big techs’. As highlighted above, the limited evidence of extraterritorial effects of remedies in digital markets means that authorities will need to consider whether action is warranted in their own jurisdictions.
The heightened complexity of digital markets, and the competition concerns which arise in the sector, can in turn heighten the complexity of the remedies required to address these problems. To mitigate potential risks and promote effective outcomes in digital markets, competition authorities have a range of tools at their disposal. For instance, competition authorities may be able to look to similar cases or remedies applied in other jurisdictions, including learning lessons from their successes and failures. To support the development of complex remedies, a substantial role may be required for technical experts, or wider consultation with third parties and interested stakeholders, to the extent possible under the applicable regime.
Interim measures and commitment procedures can also be valuable tools to resolve harms in a timely and collaborative manner, while being mindful of the risks to be balanced. Moreover, ongoing monitoring and ex-post assessment of remedies are highly valuable tools to evaluate the effectiveness of remedies, including finding areas for improvement going forward (see (OECD, 2023[22]) for guidance and the European Commission’s recent report (2025[24]) by way of example).
Competition authorities in the region have also shown an interest in considering more novel, pro-competitive remedies, such as interoperability requirements or demand-side remedies, to address harms arising in this sector or related sectors. These remedies, among others, may provide a way for authorities to proactively restore competition in a particular market, rather than just ceasing the existing conduct, although the extent to which this is possible may depend on the applicable regime.
In some jurisdictions outside LAC which have implemented ex ante regulations in digital markets, these regulatory solutions may operate alongside remedies introduced as part of abuse of dominance or merger review proceedings. Competition authorities and policy makers in LAC have the opportunity to observe the implementation of such regulations, as well as traditional antitrust remedies, in other jurisdictions, to inform the design of effective remedies in their own jurisdictions.