Budapest, November 20, 2025 — The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) used this year’s Competition Law Forum to warn that rapid digitalisation and the rise of artificial intelligence are fundamentally transforming how markets operate — and how competition and consumer-protection rules must adapt. GVH President Csaba Balázs Rigó told the conference that digital technologies are reshaping competitive dynamics, business practices and regulatory expectations at unprecedented speed.
Speaking before national and international experts, Rigó said the current moment would be remembered as a turning point in competition policy. Digital platforms, algorithmic decision-making, large-scale data collection and AI-driven tools are raising new questions about market power, innovation incentives and enforcement techniques. “In a few decades, we will look back on the current period as the years of transformation in competition law, competition policy and consumer protection law,” he said.
Digital platforms, AI and data use dominate the agenda
This seventh edition of the forum, held at Pázmány Péter Catholic University, focused heavily on the competitive implications of AI and on how digital markets challenge existing legal frameworks. László Palkovics, the government commissioner responsible for artificial intelligence, joined a panel on emerging risks, including data-driven exclusionary conduct and the growing influence of algorithmic systems on market outcomes.
A keynote speech by Andreas Mundt, President of the German Bundeskartellamt, examined cross-border enforcement challenges and the need for authorities to modernise analytical tools. Andrew N. Ferguson, Chair of the US Federal Trade Commission, addressed participants via video message, highlighting how jurisdictions worldwide are confronting similar questions around digital platform behaviour.
New pressures on enforcement and private rights
A second focus of the event was the growing importance of private enforcement in digital markets. The GVH presented its new volume, Enforcement of private law in competition law, outlining how digitalisation complicates evidence gathering, attribution and the assessment of harm in technology-driven cases.
AI and consumer protection risks for families
The forum also examined threats emerging in the digital environment, including AI-generated content, opaque recommendation systems and online manipulation affecting children and families. Rigó stressed that digital markets create not only competition challenges but also heightened consumer-protection vulnerabilities: “We must protect Hungarian families and our children in the digital space as well.”
