Abstract: With the development of the platform economy, digital analytics services have become a key driver behind the emergence and expansion of leading platforms. However, this also exposes these platforms to increasing antitrust scrutiny. To explore compliance-oriented development strategies for Chinese platform enterprises in overseas markets, this study adopts a multiple case study approach. It examines four major international internet platforms-Alphabet, Amazon, ByteDance, and Meta-each under close antitrust scrutiny by the European Union. The analysis focuses on how digital analytics services shape platform competition strategies across different stages of platform development and discusses the evolving regulatory concerns from an antitrust perspective. The study identifies four developmental stages driven by the deepening integration of digital analytics services: “data-driven business model innovation”, “algorithm-driven supply-demand matching innovation”, “data aggregation and algorithm optimization to enhance user attraction”, and “data sharing and algorithm iteration to maintain traffic stability”. At each stage, digital analytics services influence platform competition strategies through mechanisms such as endogenous network effects and market expansion effects. As platforms evolve, antitrust regulation must adapt accordingly, shifting its focus from “restricting platform abuse of algorithms to expand market scale” to “focusing on platform functionality and recommendation mechanisms to ensuring fair competition,” and ultimately to “monitoring platform value exchange and the overall ecosystem to sustain market vitality”.

Key words: digital analytics services, platform competition strategy, antitrust regulation