Geo-blocking in the market: consequences and predictions

Abstract

Geo-blocking is the commercial practice that allows companies to block their services or products based on the geographic location of the customers that consume them, and is a very widespread practice in the electronic commerce sector. Above all, however, geo-blocking is present in digital content and products. Through the tools made available through geo-blocking, companies have been able to exploit the price differences between one country and another, thus forcing the consumer to always buy in their country of origin, even if it is more expensive or if doing so involves some type of disadvantage or harm to the consumer. In addition, for content dissemination platforms such as Netflix, iTunes and Spotify, it is easier to do business with individual territories than to do so globally. Compartmentalising the business ends up yielding a profit, and also saves efforts when it comes to obtaining licenses for the use of the contents that are intended to be made available to their clients. An increasingly popular theory in the European Union is that companies who use geo-blocking are incurring in an illegal and unlawful practice in European competition law. Consumer associations, experts and various organisations have labelled the practice of geo-blocking as discrimination, and have advocated its abolition. However, despite the remarkable efforts of European institutions to build a legal framework that would appropriate consumers from different EU countries to share a single digital market, it seems that Europe has barely moved from its starting point.

Keywords

• geo-blocking
• digital rights
• european law
• e-commerce