Blocked: Why Some Companies Restrict Data Access to Reduce Competition and How Open APIs Can help

Businesses in the real estate, financial services, and air travel industries have taken steps to limit third-party access to their data in ways that restrict competition, reduce market transparency, and harm consumers. In order to prevent this behavior, this report recommends that policymakers require the data holders in each of these industries to maintain open application programming interfaces (APIs) that provide access to the relevant information. APIs are software functions that allow developers and third-parties to access data. Ultimately, providing third parties with access to this information serves consumers by increasing market transparency and by allowing them to make more informed choices.