ACCC Archives

Australia’s competition regulator wants to put an end to Google’s dominance as a search engine

Casey Tonkin - October 28, 2021 2 MIN READ

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) wants to end Google’s reign as the default search engine for Australians, saying its dominance has likely “stifled innovation and reduced consumer choice”. The consumer watchdog released the interim report of its Digital Platform Services Inquiry on Thursday and has taken aim at Google for penning deals to ensure its Search… Read more »

Global tech

Competition watchdog the ACCC says Google’s ad tech dominance ‘harms’ business and users

Simon Thomsen - September 28, 2021 3 MIN READ

An ACCC inquiry into advertising technology (ad tech) has found significant competition concerns and potential harms to publishers, advertisers, businesses and consumers from Google’s dominance of the sector. More than 90% of ad impressions traded via the ad tech supply chain are estimated to have gone via at least one Google service in 2020. The… Read more »

ASX

Competition watchdog the ACCC signs off on BPAY-eftpos-NPPA merger

Simon Thomsen - September 9, 2021 3 MIN READ

Competition regulator the ACCC has agreed to the proposed merger of BPAY Group Holding with eftpos Payments Australia, and NPP Australia (NPPA) in one of the most eagerly anticipated decisions for Australian fintech. ACCC Chair Rod Sims said they found that, at a high level, the services of the three companies do not compete closely.… Read more »

Other tech

It looks like lockdowns are pushing everyone onto faster NBN speeds

Simon Thomsen - August 20, 2021 2 MIN READ

The household fight between parents at work and children learning online for bandwidth at Zoom meetings appears to be driving a shift to higher NBN speed plans for Australian homes. The ACCC’s latest NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report says around 400,000 residential broadband customers moved to higher speed plans in the June 2021 quarter, just… Read more »

Other

Australia’s competition boss is rallying global regulators to take on Apple and Google over their app store dominance

Simon Thomsen - August 19, 2021 2 MIN READ

Rod Sims, chair of competition watchdog the ACCC, has told his colleagues around the world that the dominance of Apple and Google in app marketplaces may need to be tackled globally with new rules and regulations. In a speech to the Global Competition Review webinar outlining how Australia has been tackling the issue through the… Read more »

Other tech

The ACCC is having another crack at telcos over misleading NBN speeds

Simon Thomsen - August 9, 2021 2 MIN READ

Consumer watchdog the ACCC is heading back to the courts, taking on Telstra, Optus and TPG for allegedly misleading consumers over NBN maximum speeds. Problems with consumers getting the NBN speeds they’ve paid for has been a constant legal battle for the regulator, with all the major telcos falling foul of the law in recent… Read more »

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Steve Martin & MIchael Caine

Topic

Telstra, Vodafone and Optus have jacked up phone plan costs by as much as 50%

Simon Thomsen - June 21, 2021 2 MIN READ

Australians may have been struggling to pay their bills, or get through to their mobile phone provider over the last year but new data from competition regulator the ACCC shows that the nations top 3 telcos have not wasted a good crisis, increasing the cost of mobile phone plans by as much as 50%. Since… Read more »

Global tech

LIFT YOUR APP GAME: Australia’s competition regulator takes aim at Apple and Google over their app store dominance

Simon Thomsen - April 28, 2021 3 MIN READ

The “significant market power” of the Apple App Store and Google Play in Australia needs to be addressed says Rod Sims, chair of competition regulator the ACCC, to give app developers better terms and conditions, as well as improving the approvals process The second part of the ACCC’s Digital Platform Services Inquiry interim report, which focuses… Read more »

Global tech

Google has lost its legal fight with the ACCC over misleading consumers about location data

Simon Thomsen - April 16, 2021 2 MIN READ

Google and Google Australia misled consumers about its use of personal location data, according to Australia’s Federal Court in a landmark legal decision. Consumer watchdog the ACCC took Google to court in October 2019 over the use of location data collected through Android mobile devices between January 2017 and December 2018, in a world-first enforcement… Read more »

Data

Business customers will get access to Open Banking from November 2021

Simon Thomsen - December 23, 2020 < 1 MIN READ

Access to Open Banking under the Consumer Data Right (CDR), introduced in Australia in July 2020, will be expanded next year to include more business customers after federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg approved the ACCC’s expansion plans for the roll out. From 1 November 2021, major banks will enable business customers to share their data with… Read more »

ASX

Kogan.com’s misleading ‘tax time savings’ ads cost the company a $350,000 fine

Simon Thomsen - December 7, 2020 2 MIN READ

A marketing campaign by Kogan.com that the Federal Court declaring “false and misleading” has cost the online retailer $350,000 as well as legal costs. Competition regulator the ACCC launched legal action against Kogan.com last year over the 2018 “tax time savings” alleging that the company increased prices on 621 products, in most cases by at… Read more »

Politics

One of the internet’s inventors backs Google in its fight over paying Australian media for news

Simon Thomsen - November 26, 2020 2 MIN READ

US tech pioneer Vint Cerf, the man dubbed “father of the internet” for his work co-designing TCP/IP protocols, has backed his employer, Google, in its fight against the Australian government’s plans to make tech giants Google and Facebook pay media companies for using their content. Cerf, who has worked for Google as a vice president and… Read more »

Global tech

Hotel bookings site Trivago has lost its appeal over misleading consumers

Simon Thomsen - November 4, 2020 2 MIN READ

Accomodation comparison site Trivago has lost an appeal against a Federal Court finding that it misled consumer in its TV and online advertising. In January this year, the court found the German tech company, which is listed on the Nasdaq and operates in Australia, had breachedAustralian Consumer Law, in a case brought by competition watchdog the… Read more »

Business

BNPLs just had a massive win over the ACCC when it comes to financing home solar installations

Simon Thomsen - September 15, 2020 3 MIN READ

Consumer fintech FelixGroup (ASX: FXL) – rebranding under its BNPL name, Humm – has scored a major victory over the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in the fight for a slice of the renewable energy sector by buy now, pay later providers. The Australian Competition Tribunal issued a summary determination today rejecting the consumer… Read more »

Global tech

‘Ill-timed and misconceived’: The ACCC hits back at Facebook’s threat to ban local news from its sites

Simon Thomsen - September 1, 2020 2 MIN READ

Facebook’s threat to ban publishing and sharing of local new stories on its platform, as well as Instagram, is “ill-timed and misconceived” according to the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) chair Rod Sims. The ACCC has been charged by the government with shepherding the proposed “News media bargaining code” through to law. The proposed… Read more »