November 1, 2026

Welcome to Letters from CAMP, a newsletter on anti-monopoly activity in Canada and abroad, brought to you by the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project. In this installment we have:

• CAMP’s new report uncovers the underground market ruining online reviews
• Why Canada and the EU coming together should be bad news for Big Tech
• DoorDash’s acquisition could cost Canadian consumers, workers, and retailers

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Now let’s dive in.

New CAMP Report – Five Stars Only: The Underground Market for Fake Reviews Online

One of the hallmarks of the digital economy is seemingly infinite choice. Whether it’s clothing or cooking gadgets, consumers are confronted with an endless stream of options for nearly every need. But how to choose which of the myriad options for specialty spatulas and avoid disappointment? Enter customer reviews, feedback from shoppers or diners to guide our every decision. But as CAMP fellow Emily Osborne finds in her new report, Five Stars Only, all is not well in the world of online reviews. In fact, a shadow market has grown up around the arms race for cherished positions in marketplaces and the vaunted five star rating.

As Osborne finds, the rise of fake reviews is an example of Goodhardt’s Law, where the importance of a measure used in decision-making creates incentives to game that measure, distorting its value entirely. For businesses, the incentives are very real. For a new business to stand out and gain traction, positive reviews are essential. Not only do reviews effect consumer shopping decisions, they also influence whether products appear at all in search results or marketplaces. And once one firm is rewarded for the practice of fake reviews, honest businesses are sucked into choosing between gaming the review system or falling behind their less scrupulous competitors.

But the real costs fall on consumers who are either disappointed or even endangered by fake reviews. Not limited to product reviews, even licensed medical and legal professionals have been found to engage in the practice of purchasing fake reviews. Despite talking a good game, the largest online platforms take a relatively lax approach to the use of fake reviews, removing only a fraction and allowing offending sellers to continue to operate. Without regulations to drive a strong stance against the practice, major platforms threaten to undermine one of the key foundations of commerce online.

📰 What We’re Up To 📰

• CAMP executive director Keldon Bester appeared before the House Industry Committee arguing for the right to repair in Canada
• The Globe and Mail covered the release of Five Stars Only with a story on the harms of the market for fake reviews
• CAMP Fellow Emily Osborne talked fake reviews online with Global News
• Keldon Bester spoke to the CBC about the federal government’s telecom competition roadmap
• We released statements calling on the Bureau to block DoorDash’s takeover of Instacart and celebrating the enforcer’s defense of airline competition

The Transatlantic Big Tech Pushback

This week, leaders from Canada and the European Union met in Montreal to hash out a new horizon for transatlantic cooperation. Notwithstanding some nomenclature drama, the meeting is a major moment for the relationship between Canada and Europe. The summit is part of efforts by both to further integrate their economies to seek a more resilient path between dueling hegemonies. In a piece for the Globe and Mail, CAMP executive director Keldon Bester and Open Markets Europe policy lead Giorgos Verdi argue that confronting global tech monopolies must be a cornerstone of this new alliance.

The power of American Big Tech has been waxing for decades, but the second Trump administration has engendered an unprecedented fusion of industry interests and foreign policy. Dependency on US technology and digital infrastructure are now pressure points in trade negotiations, something unlikely to change when the residents of the White House change. Canada’s complacency is also to blame. We were too blasé about digital trade rules during CUSMA negotiations and are now dealing with the consequences as we try to regulate the digital sphere. A closer relationship to Europe suggests we may be starting to learn our lesson.

The Canada-EU agreement already lays the groundwork for greater cooperation against Big Tech. The federal government’s announcement following the summit led with a competition agreement that will allow enforcers in each jurisdiction to share confidential information and collaborate on investigations. But Canada needs to catch up when it comes to the regulation of competition in digital markets and the creation of alternatives to Big Tech. At CAMP we’re glad to see the issue of competition and tech dependence front and center as Canada and Europe come together. It’s going to take a united front to reclaim our ability to govern.

📚 What We’re Reading 📚

• ​Canada and Europe have the same Adtech problem (Canadian Shield Institute)
• Scassa, OpenAI challenges BC Privacy Commissioner’s investigation into chatbot privacy issues linked to Tumbler Ridge tragedy​
• Gelevan, He tried to get into Montreal’s kosher market. It led to a battle over alleged meat monopoly(CBC News)

Consolidation Delivered Directly to Your Door

This week, delivery giant DoorDash announced that it would seek regulatory approval, including in Canada, to purchase grocery delivery rival Instacart for $17 billion dollars. The proposed acquisition continues a post-pandemic trend of market consolidation following the explosion of delivery growth during lockdown. DoorDash, which processed 993 million orders in the last quarter, is an order of magnitude larger than its takeover target, which made 91.4 million deliveries over the same period. While the company’s position is that it’s a win-win-win for shoppers, stores, and workers. We think otherwise.

DoorDash’s interest in Instacart is an effort to shortcut its path to grocery delivery domination. While DoorDash has an established business when it comes to restaurant delivery, its grocery delivery business is still in its early days. Instead of doing the hard work to bring more competition to the grocery delivery market, DoorDash is looking to swallow its rival and leapfrog into a leading position. At a time when food prices remain elevated and more Canadians, especially Millennials and Gen Z, rely on grocery delivery services to get food on the table, this proposed takeover is bad news.

With its newfound focus on competition in all parts of the food system, the Competition Bureau needs to step in and stop a merger that is likely to result in higher fees for shoppers, lower wages for delivery workers, and worse service for food retailers. The Bureau is already familiar with DoorDash’s business, spending the week in court arguing the company has been deceiving customers over the fees it charges them for deliveries. Canadians are already all too aware of the consequences of consolidation in the food system. We can’t let a new market meeting the needs of Canadians fall to the same fate.

If you have any monopoly tips or stories you’d like to share, drop us a line at hello@antimonopoly.ca

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