Resuscitating E-Commerce’s Transnational Promise with Out-of-Court Processes

Authors

Oladeji M. Tiamiyu

Abstract

E-commerce is increasingly taking a central role in conducting commercial transactions. This burgeoning industry has shaped how, when, and even why consumers transact. While catalyzed by the pandemic, increased use of e-commerce platforms is a multi-decade historical trend. Yet regulators throughout much of the world have been slow in how they regulate these platforms. In recognition of the growing importance of digital transactions, regulators have increasingly explored what should be the appropriate amount of oversight for platforms that have relied on substantial self-regulation. Regulation has increased the difficulty for private and public enforcement of antitrust laws, compromising a variety of different e-commerce stakeholders and drawing a contrast with the visions of early technologists who aspired for an online marketplace that is untethered to physical locations. A central argument in this paper is that slow, unresponsive regulation and monopolistic practices from different e-commerce platforms have culminated to compromise the transnational promise of e-commerce. The opportunity for e-commerce lies in norm-derived inter-platform community regulation that proactively complements cautious government regulation.

Recommended Citation

Tiamiyu, Oladeji M. (2025) "Resuscitating E-Commerce’s Transnational Promise with Out-of-Court Processes," University of Memphis Law Review: Vol. 54: Iss. 2, Article 5.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/um-law-review/vol54/iss2/5