ACCC officially begins ad tech inquiry, along with further five year inquiry into digital platforms
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) inquiry into the ad tech supply chain is officially underway, with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg directing the watchdog to commence the 18 month inquiry alongside a further, five year inquiry that will continue to investigate and put pressure on digital platforms including Facebook and Google.
The second inquiry into digital platforms, to run from 2020 to 2025, is much lengthier than the initial 18 month inquiry which began in 2017 and culminated in the ACCC’s 623-page report released last July.
Frydenberg commented on last week’s directions over the weekend
Does the ACCC not realise that in 5 years time the tech will be completely different?
Hi Brittney,
In previous articles on this topic there was talk of the Aus government pushing for access to FB / Google algorithms. I noticed its not listed here. Do you know if its still on the Gov agenda?
Hi Marc,
In its final report last year, the ACCC didn’t explicitly say the Digital Platforms Branch (if supported and funded by the government) would get access to the algorithms. The report read:
“The ACCC notes that concerns over potential anti-competitive behaviour, including by leveraging market power in one market into related markets, is a key reason for the creation of a specialised digital platforms branch of the ACCC, to build on and develop expertise in digital markets and the use of algorithms.
“The creation of this branch will allow the ACCC to pro-actively monitor the conduct of digital platforms and investigate potentially anti-competitive behaviour on the part of digital platforms, including the type of potential conduct discussed in this section.”
So it could involve access to the algorithms, but it’s unclear.
The government, of course, did support the recommendation to set up and fund the Digital Platforms Branch. That seems to suggest it supports what the ACCC wants the Branch to do, but it seems at this stage its primary focus will be conducting these two inquiries. We’ll have to wait and see whether those inquiries involve algorithm access (and how much power it even has to demand such access – a huge obstacle the ACCC faced in the first inquiry was getting information on the record).
Thanks for the question,
Brittney – Mumbrella
Thanks Brittney, very helpful 🙂