Regulation of online platforms in the US law

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the American approach to regulating online platforms, which is based on a liberal model of minimal state intervention. The relevance of the topic is determined by the rapid growth of the online platformsʼ importance in socio‑economic life and the emergence of numerous challenges related to data privacy, market mono­polization, and misinformation. The study hypo­thesis is that the U.S. liberal approach to platform regulation is undergoing a transformation, which is expressed in the increasing number of state-level laws and federal agency intervention, such as the Federal Trade Commission. Methods of analysis of regulatory legal acts, teleological analysis of regu­latory documents, and doctrinal publications were used. The key findings indicate that the U.S. model is striving to maintain a balance between protecting private interest aimed at entrepreneurial freedom and the public interest, which requires greater user protection and preventing abuses. The absence of a unified federal law and the lack of standardization between states creates difficulties for online platforms in complying with legislation, while state laws may encourage the federal government to adopt a unified act. The study emphasizes the necessity of adapting the U.S. approach to modern realities by integrating the best practices from European and Chinese experiences.