Australian Competition Regulator Fires Warning Shots at Google
A draft report from Australia’s competition regulator (ACCC) into the market power of digital search engines, social media platforms, and digital content aggregators has been published.
The ACCC makes a number of policy recommendations including strengthen our merger laws, preventing mobile operators installing default search settings (e.g. for Google), setting up a new regulatory authority to monitor, investigate and report on the behaviour of such entities (with over $100 million turn over in revenue).
“The regulatory authority could have the power to investigate complaints, initiate its own investigations, make referrals to other government agencies and to publish reports and make recommendations.”
The ACCC finds that Google has a substantial degree of market power in a number of markets including the -on-line search market (94% of searches in Australia are through Google), the supply of on-line search advertising and the supply of news media and referral services. They also find Facebook has a substantial degree of market power in the market for social media services, display advertising and the supply of news referral services.
The ACCC also says that they both act like media companies (compiling content etc.) but are not subject to traditional media regulation (which does impose costs, such as Australian content quotas, on news media organisations).
https://www.accc.gov.au/focus-areas/inquiries/digital-platforms-inquiry/preliminary-report
