Topic

5 things you should know about tech today

- May 13, 2020 3 MIN READ

Welcome to Wednesday and the latest tech news 1. Home tweet home Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has emailed staff to tell them that when the lockdown finally ends and everyone can return to work – he doesn’t think it will be before September – staff will be able to continue to work from home. In… Read more »

Opinion

The Australian government looks set to end the free ride on local media by Google and Facebook

- April 20, 2020 3 MIN READ

Digital platforms such as Google and Facebook will be forced to compensate news media companies for using their content, under a new mandatory code to be drawn up by Australia’s competition watchdog. The announcement, made by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg today, follows last year’s landmark report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which found… Read more »

Topic

Australia’s information commissioner is suing Facebook for Cambridge Analytica data privacy breaches

- March 9, 2020 2 MIN READ

The Australian Information Commissioner has launched Federal Court legal action against Facebook, accusing the social media giant of “systemic failures to comply with Australian privacy laws” involving more than 311,000 Australian users as the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal continues. The case alleges that between March 2014 to May 2015, Facebook disclosed the personal… Read more »

Topic

5 things you should know about tech today

- February 13, 2020 5 MIN READ

  Hello Thursday! Let’s see how the rest of the day pans out.   1.  Vodafone and TPG win merger decision The $15 billion merger between Vodafone and TPG will go ahead following a Federal Court case that today ruled in favour of the country’s third and fourth biggest telcos and against competition regulator, the… Read more »

Topic

The Australian government is cracking down on Facebook and Google

- 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 »

Christian Porter
Topic

Australia’s Attorney-General says social media should be held as legally accountable as publishers

- November 20, 2019 2 MIN READ

Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms should be treated as publishers, Australia’s Attorney-General Christian Porter believes, making them potentially liable for any defamatory comments published on the sites. The country’s senior lawmaker’s view is that “the playing field is not at all fair at the moment” for traditional media companies when it comes to… Read more »

Great white shark
Topic

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

- 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 »

Topic

Australian social media marketing startup Stackla is suing Facebook over being blocked from using its data

- September 24, 2019 < 1 MIN READ

Australian marketing startup Stackla is suing Facebook after the US social media giant banned the business from the site’s data in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The AFR reports that Stackla, co-founded in 2012 by Damien Mahoney and Peter Cassidy, lodged proceedings in the US District Court in San Francisco last week. Meanwhile,… Read more »