In a major turn of events witnessed across the social media sector in Australia, the country’s statutory body, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which regulates the competition laws, has announced a probe against Google and Facebook over the allegations claiming them to have massively influenced and controlled the news media. The regulating authority believes that the profits of the local media firms have been severely hit with firms such as Netflix, Google, and Facebook attracting online distributors via wider publicity.
According to the authentic sources, the government’s inquiry against the U.S. online giants comes on the heels of the escalating concerns over degradation of news quality, diminishing ROIs, and job cuts. Experts have also claimed that the government of Australia fears that these social media giants will overlook the interests of publishers, marketers, copywriters, and consumers across the country. ACCC further proclaimed to check the impact of the business dealings of social networking sites on the Australian news media market.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also claimed that it will study the operational models of Facebook and Google to evaluate their influence in the country. For the uninitiated, the idea of ACCC investigation was coined during the media reform discussions in the parliament earlier this year leading to relaxation of ownership laws to help the regional firms to increase their revenue and compete with the online media disruptors.
It has been stated that the inquiry will hold the power to request information from these global social media giants and conduct the legal proceedings. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, as per reliable sources, will draft and finalize its report within eighteen months of the investigation.
