Treasury commences consultation on regulation of Digital Platforms

One of the most pressing challenges for governments around the world is how to effectively regulate to prevent conduct by large digital platforms such as Google and Facebook which is harmful to competition and to consumers.

In February 2020, the Australian Government directed the ACCC to conduct a five year inquiry into markets for the supply of digital platform services. The Inquiry is examining consumer and competition issues related to digital platforms, including a consideration of whether Australia's current competition and consumer laws are sufficient to address identified issues.

The ACCC has so far published five interim reports. The fifth report, which was released in November last year, focuses on regulatory reform and provides recommendations on competition and consumer issues identified by the ACCC since 2017, not only in the current Digital Platform Services Inquiry but also in the earlier Digital Advertising Services Inquiry (known as the Ad tech