The thriving digital economy, while driving innovative models and disrupting traditional industries, also presents challenges to government anti-monopoly efforts and various governance models. Negative effects such as platform monopolies and unregulated capital expansion in the digital economy have led to a global consensus on platform regulation and enhanced competition enforcement. However, the new context of the digital economy in this era imposes new institutional requirements and higher technological challenges on the role that governments need to play and the formulation of anti-monopoly policies. Therefore, the second research direction of RIDE aims to construct a theoretical framework for scientifically regulating anti-monopoly practices within the digital economy to address this significant challenge.

Specifically, due to the lack of a generalized theoretical model for competition harm related to the anti-competitive behavior of digital economy multilateral platform enterprises, as well as the absence of corresponding empirical research and case analyses, anti-monopoly authorities find it challenging to maintain fair and effective operation of digital economy markets. Therefore, RIDE will focus on exploring the key characteristics and competition mechanisms of the digital economy. It will conduct an in-depth analysis of the fundamental properties of the digital economy and how these properties will impact competition mechanisms in the digital economy market, particularly in terms of pricing, information, and competitive equilibrium in multilateral markets. Furthermore, it will research competition harm theories within the digital economy, assessment methods, and digital pricing collusion regulation.