Google and Facebook have been dominating headlines internationally.
Last week, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) published a preliminary report on the tech giants' all-pervasive influence on how we communicate, access news and information, and do business with one another.
On the basis that Google and Facebook are "critical and, in many cases, unavoidable business partners", the ACCC is now asking organisations and individuals to provide feedback on their experience in doing business with these companies.
Areas of focus
Specific issues the ACCC wants to hear about include:
- How Google and Facebook use search engines to favour their own or related businesses ahead of competitors;
- The lack of transparency about their algorithms or other factors that influence how results are displayed;
- Advertisers being unable to verify the delivery and performance of their advertisements;
- The substantial and largely unregulated impact the companies have on news and journalistic content, and the consequences for our media industry and society more broadly; and
- The extent of data they obtain from users, and the way it is collected, shared and used.
Submissions are now open
Submissions to the ACCC are due by Friday 15 February 2019.
A copy of the preliminary report can be found here.
