Beware Ex Ante Regulation: Introducing “Cut and Paste” Ex Ante Regulations in Canada Against Select Big Tech Companies is Just Bad Economic and Legislative Policy

This paper examines the international and Canadian debate around ex ante regulations for Big Tech platform companies. The paper explores the need for and costs associated with ex ante regulation and concludes that pursuing such regulations in Canada would be ill-advised. While some argue that ex ante regulation is necessary to prevent market failure and protect incentives for innovation, this paper contends that no empirical evidence has been offered with respect to actual market failure. The pa