ACCC Archives

PODCAST: Google and Facebook could cop a global digital tax in the fight against Australian laws on paying for news

The Conversation - August 28, 2020 4 MIN READ

Have you used Google lately and been greeted by a yellow warning saying that the way Australians search on Google is under threat? To understand why these messages are appearing, Media Files interviewed former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Professor Allan Fels, and CEO of the Public Interest Journalism Initiative (PIJI),… Read more »

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Google hits back against the ACCC’s ‘misinformation’ accusation

Simon Thomsen - August 18, 2020 3 MIN READ

Google Australia’s war of words over plans to make the company pay local media companies for news content, has continued today with a rebuttal of competition regulator the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC), which accused the global tech giant of “misinformation”. Google launched a campaign against the ACCC’s proposal for the so-called “News Media… Read more »

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Google claims its free services, including YouTube, are ‘at risk’ if it has to pay Australian media for news

Simon Thomsen - August 17, 2020 3 MIN READ

Plans by the Morrison government to make Google and Facebook pay local media companies for news content appear to have stirred a sleeping giant, with the global search engine publishing an open letter to Australians warning that their search data, and the company’s free services are at risk as a result. Competition regulator the Australian… Read more »

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Australia is forcing Facebook and Google to pay the media for news – here’s how it will work

Rob Nicholls - August 3, 2020 4 MIN READ

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has released its draft news media bargaining code, announced on Friday by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. The draft code allows commercial news businesses to bargain – individually or collectively – with Google and Facebook, in order to be paid for news the tech giants publish on their services. According to… Read more »

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The ACCC is taking on Google, accusing the tech giant of misleading consumers about combining their personal data

Simon Thomsen - July 27, 2020 3 MIN READ

Google has been accused of misleading consumers over the use of their data from using the internet, with consumer watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launching legal action against the tech giant. The ACCC alleges Google failed to properly inform consumers, and did not gain their explicit informed consent, about its move in… Read more »

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Tradie marketplace Service Seeking cops $600,000 fine over customer ‘reviews’ written buy the businesses

Simon Thomsen - July 22, 2020 2 MIN READ

Reviews pre-written by companies and emailed to customers to endorse as a testimonial have cost online tradie marketplace Service Seeking $600,000 following legal action by the competition watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The Federal Court hit Service Seeking Pty Ltd with $600,000 in penalties for making false or misleading representations regarding business… Read more »

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Kogan.com has lost its fight over ‘misleading’ tax time ads

Simon Thomsen - July 17, 2020 2 MIN READ

Advertising for end of financial year discounts by online retailer Kogan Australia Pty Ltd (Kogan) was false and misleading, in breach of Australian Consumer Law, the Federal Court has found. Consumer watchdog the ACCC, launched legal action against Kogan in May last year over the advertising campaign, which ran online between June 27-30, 2018, which… Read more »

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Australians can now gain control of their data to save money on banking

Simon Thomsen - July 2, 2020 2 MIN READ

Australian consumers can gain access to their banking data from Wednesday, July 1, to potentially save money on the cost of financial services with the phased launch of the Consumer Data Right. All four major banks are required to share a customer’s data, when they request it. The reform gives fintechs the potential to find… Read more »

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The Coalition government’s signature NBN strategy is causing the biggest problems for users, the ACCC finds

Simon Thomsen - February 12, 2020 2 MIN READ

Fibre-to-the-node (FTTN), the key broadband delivery method instigated by former communications minister Malcolm Turnbull in the Coalition government’s NBN policy, is failing to deliver for around a quarter of users, the latest review of broadband speeds by consumer watchdog the ACCC has found. The latest Measuring Broadband Australia report – the eight by the Australian… Read more »

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Australians are giving up talking to download on their smartphones

Simon Thomsen - January 21, 2020 2 MIN READ

The hunger for streaming services such as Stan and Netflix has seen the amount of data downloaded by Australians jump by nearly 50% in 12 months, the latest ACCC Communications Market Report for 2018-19 has found. And for the first time, the amount of time we spent talking on our phones fell as people… Read more »

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Open Banking plans delayed 5 months until July amid concerns over data security and privacy testing

Simon Thomsen - December 23, 2019 2 MIN READ

Competition watchdog the ACCC has pushed out timelines for the implementation and launch of some aspects of the Consumer Data Right (CDR), known as open banking from February until July 1, 2020, as it continues to look at testing for data privacy and security. Banking is the first sector to to address CDR, which… Read more »

Opinion

Why the government response to the ACCC’s Digital Platforms Inquiry is less than ‘world-leading’

The Conversation - December 13, 2019 4 MIN READ

On Thursday the federal government responded to the recommendations of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) “world-leading” Digital Platforms Inquiry. The response, however, is a less-than world-leading roadmap for reform. Few dispute the ACCC’s inquiry was ground breaking, as it held to account tech giants including Google and Facebook, and the power they wield… Read more »

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The Australian government is cracking down on Facebook and Google

Simon Thomsen - December 12, 2019 4 MIN READ

Image: Jurassic World, Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment The Morrison government’s response to the ACCC’s concerns about the market power of Google and Facebook include $27m to the competition watchdog to boost monitoring and enforcement against the tech giants A voluntary code of practice, overseen by the ACCC, to address bargaining power imbalances between the tech companies… Read more »

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The ACCC is worried about data privacy from tech takeovers by Facebook and Google

Simon Thomsen - November 19, 2019 3 MIN READ

The growing power of Facebook, Google and other tech companies as they swallow smaller rivals has Australia’s competition watchdog, the ACCC, worried about the threat to consumer data and privacy. Speaking at the Consumer Policy Research Conference Conference in Melbourne today, Australian Consumer and Competition Commission chair Rod Sims said Google and Facebook “are essentially… Read more »

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ACCC takes Google to court, accusing it of misleading people over their location data

Simon Thomsen - October 29, 2019 2 MIN READ

Google is being taken to court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which has accused the global tech giant of misleading consumers about its use of their personal location data. It’s believed to be the first legal action in the world on the issue as tech companies comes under increased scrutiny by… Read more »