Competition watchdog the ACCC is only just getting started in its investigation into digital platforms.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has recommended a range of measures to address harms from digital platforms to Australian consumers, small businesses and competition.
The ACCC wants legally binding codes of conduct, applied service-by-service, which require certain digital platforms including Google and Facebook to address issues including anti-competitive self-preferencing.
ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb: "The ACCC has plenty more work ahead.”
The ACCC is in it’s 6th year of investigating competition and consumer issues, acting urgently upon the misuse of market power.
Cass-Gottlieb cautions the complex nature and lack of transparency of these digital services is proving a challenge to detect unlawful conduct.
“These difficulties in prosecuting anticompetitive conduct by digital platforms under existing laws has significant costs for businesses, consumers, and the productivity of the Australian economy," she told a conference at Monash University, Opportunities and Challenges in the Digital Revolution.
“Regulatory and enforcement tools must be able to account for the rate of technological change to avoid the far-reaching consequences of anti-competitive conduct in services that are central to the economy,” she says.
The ACCC is further investigating the issue with new measures and principles in place.
Cass-Gottlieb: “The ACCC has recommended a range of new competition measures for digital platforms, including new service-specific mandatory codes of conduct for ‘designated digital platforms,’ based on principles set out in legislation.”
On speaking of the opportunities and challenges of the digital revolution, Cass-Gottlieb urged action be taken now on the reforms proposed by the ACCC.
“Australian consumers and businesses will benefit sooner from more dynamic competition in these important services, such as through greater choice of service and business models, and innovations that may not otherwise eventuate.
“Now is the time to act to protect competition in new and emerging digital services and to address anti-competitive conduct and high barriers to entry in existing digital platform markets,” said Cass-Gottlieb.
In the past, The ACCC has conducted an investigation into the influencer marketing sector to identify misleading and deceptive behaviour. The competition watchdog focused on breaches of Australian Consumer Law, including making incorrect statements or creating a false impression of a product, service or brand.
Concerning digital platforms, The ACCC has warned businesses not to compete with them.
Consumers could suffer from increased prices and business punishment as a result.
Cass-Gottlieb said: “Current laws are not sufficient to deal with these issues and new, targeted measures are required to bring about a more competitive, innovative, and consumer-centric digital economy.”
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