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The development of the digital economy, such as algorithms, is changing the competitive landscape in which many firms operate and the way they make business decisions. However, this phenomenon has also raised concerns about possible anticompetitive behavior as it makes companies easier to collude by improving market transparency and enabling high-frequency trading.

Traditionally, algorithms have been commonly understood as a useful tool to implement and facilitate harmonization in the digital market. However, algorithms, such as pricing algorithms, are used to coordinate parallel behavior without engaging in explicit communication but resulting in tacit collusion thereby breaching current competition laws.

Accordingly, by recognizing the risks of algorithms, this paper addresses some tentative solutions related to algorithms. First, the concept of “agreement” should be revised and redefined. Second, there must be ways to seek who would be responsible for any consequences resulted from the pricing algorithms.

Even though algorithms harm the competitive process in the market in some ways, the current competition laws are uncertain and not sufficient to regulate anti-competitive algorithms. In this sense, this paper suggests that current competition laws should provide transparency and be explainable but not countervailing innovation at the same time.