ABSTRACT
The physical world, and infrastructures and network industries in particular, are headed towards a profound disruption. Exclusion can be the result of a commercial decision or the result of a governmental order, as it has been the case in China with a large number of apps, from Facebook to the New York Times. Apple is powerful not because it has access to the data generated by their smartphones, but because it is the gatekeeper of the apps to be installed in the smartphone, the apps that create the network effects making use of the data. China has both the power to block US platforms and the scale to develop their own platforms with massive mostly domestic network effects. However, the regulation of digital platforms by EU authorities should not be interpreted as a protectionist trade measure to favor the local industry, as it is sometimes criticized by the US.
