The ACCC in its final report on the Digital Platforms has come up with a range of practical measures that could potentially help curb any anti-competitive behaviours from the tech giants.

While the report focuses primarily on Google and Facebook, the ACCC has aimed to ensure that the recommendations are future-proof and adaptable to other digital platforms as the market evolves.

On 4^th December 2017, the then Treasurer, Scott Morrison directed the ACCC to conduct an inquiry into digital platforms such as Facebook and Google. The inquiry was tasked with looking into the impact of digital search engines, social media platforms and other digital content aggregation platforms have on competition on the media and advertising industry. In particular the inquiry will look into the impact of digital platforms on the supply of news and journalistic content and the implications for content creators, advertisers, consumers and media owners. On 11^th December 2018, the ACCC released its preliminary report on the inquiry. Following a consultation process, the ACCC unveiled its final report on 26^th July 2019. The 600-page detailed report contains 23 key recommendations that cover competition law, consumer protection rights, media regulation and privacy law and take into account a range of issues resulting from the growth of digital platforms.

In this report, we outline some of the key highlights and recommendations from the ACCC’s final report and provide our take on the same.

Contents

Key takeaways

Introduction

Key takeaways

ACCC recommendations

Our take

List of charts/tables

Figure 1. Total Australian advertising expenditure ($bn)

Figure 2. Facebook share of digital display advertising in Australia (%)