Digital cartels and algorithmic coordination could threaten antitrust processes and automatically collaborate on pricing.
This was one of the topics under discussion at the 10th Anniversary International Conference “Antitrust Policy: Science, Practice, Education organised by FAS Russia, HSE University and the BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre.
Officials from BRICS and EAEU competition authorities, judges, researchers and practitioners examined how AI technologies reshape global markets and complicate traditional antitrust enforcement.
During the session “Artificial Intelligence versus Cartels,” Alexey Ivanov, director of the BRICS Competition Centre, emphasised that algorithmic coordination represents a new form of cartelization.
He noted that algorithms can synchronise prices without human intent or explicit agreements, creating “black boxes” that regulators struggle to interpret.
While classical cartels relied on meetings and documented communication, digital cartels may evolve autonomously, react in milliseconds and scale across entire platforms.
Ivanov referenced emerging global enforcement practice that illustrates these challenges. In the US, the RealPage case has demonstrated how revenue-management software coordinating rental prices across a market can lead to cartel-like outcomes, resulting in dozens of settlements and creating a new benchmark for assessing algorithmic collusion.
Similar issues arise in ride-hailing and online marketplaces, where centralised algorithmic systems influence pricing, ranking and access to key tools such as the Buy Box. Risks of algorithmic price management, he noted, also exist on Russian platforms.
In global commodity trade, digital platforms such as Covantis show how blockchain-based systems may consolidate, rather than decentralise, market power.
According to Ivanov, some forms of digital coordination are becoming structural features of modern markets.
Regulators therefore need to understand how algorithms operate and develop tools that differentiate harmful coordination from efficiency-enhancing mechanisms.
This includes transparency requirements for algorithms, real-time monitoring, increased technical capacity within antitrust agencies and expanded international cooperation.
The conference underscored a growing consensus: AI-driven coordination is transforming markets faster than traditional antitrust tools can respond.
Experts agreed that enforcement approaches must evolve accordingly to ensure that digital markets remain open, transparent and competitive.