Jun 24, 2019 13:30:00

A new move towards blocking the news market monopoly by Google and Facebook

by

Democracy Chronicles

In the EU, the GDPR mainly for personal information protection was introduced in 2018, and the California Consumer Personal Information Protection Act (CCPA) was enacted in the United States as the California version GDPR. We are starting to tighten digital platform regulations. Under these circumstances, it has become clear that Australia's Fair Trade Commission is moving to establish new regulations centered on the protection of personal information and the prevention of market monopolization by large media companies.

Digital platforms inquiry | ACCC
https://www.accc.gov.au/focus-areas/inquiries/digital-platforms-inquiry/preliminary-report

Aussie watchdog readies clampdown on Google, Facebook | AFP.com
https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/aussie-watchdog-readies-clampdown-google-facebook-doc-1hp4am1

The Australian Competition and Consumers Committee (ACCC) published in December 2018 a report summarizing the development of digital platforms and their consequences.

The ACCC said in a total of 374 pages of 'preliminary reports', saying, 'Because Google and Facebook have a major impact on the Australian news industry The number of traditional print media vocational journalists has fallen by more than 20 percent. ' 'We should reconsider the role of the global digital platform in Australian journalism.'

The graph on the left of the following images is a stacked graph that shows the transition of advertising revenue obtained by the Australian media. You can see how the yellow part showing online media is increasing while the light blue part showing printed materials such as newspapers has been decreasing since around 2008. This trend is noticeable after 2014, but when you look at the bar chart on the right that represents online media growth during the same period, most of the growth is occupied by the blue part representing Facebook and the red part representing Google You can confirm that it is.

The report also points out that the ad serving algorithm of these digital platforms is unclear, as well as concerns about digital platforms such as Google and Facebook dominating the news market.

According to AFP news reports, the final report released by the ACCC on June 30, 2019 will include the same personal information protection provisions as the GDPR, as well as mergers and acquisitions by major digital companies, as a necessary measure. It is expected that significant regulations will be included. In addition, an 'Algorithm Review Board' will be set up to rate news content and news aggregation services.

The ACCC points out that 'the problem is that the digital platform has decided on the scope and methods of providing news and information to people in Australia,' said the major digital companies in the news market It is essential to monitor complex and opaque ad delivery algorithms in order to prevent undue prioritization of their interests through their impact. ”

by William Iven

With regard to regulatory intensification by public organizations, tech companies and others have been criticized for saying that 'the majority of the recommendations proposed by the ACCC are not realistic, they are nothing more than mere shut-down of foreign companies.' Sunita Bose, director of the Australian non-profit DIGI established by Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. If it becomes essential, it will be a big hit not only for large companies but also for companies that want to enter the market, ”warned that the state of news and reports in Australia could be distorted by regulations.