Australia Tightly Monitors Multinational Digital Platforms

AP PHOTO/ROD MCGUIRK

Australia\'s Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, left, and Indonesia\'s Finance Minister Sri Mulyani comment after signing memorandums of understanding on Monday, Nov. 5, 2018, at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia. The memorandums update a framework for policy and technical exchanges between the two governments that have existed for 12 years. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk)

CANBERRA, JUMAT — The Australian government released a report on Friday recommending tighter supervision on multinational digital platforms, including Google and Facebook. The measure, among other things, is to ensure fairness for other media businesses and provide protection for personal data and greater authority for citizens in general to control the use of their data by these companies.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the supervisory commission for fair trade in the country, spent 18 months investigating the impact of digital search engines, social media platforms and digital content aggregators, as well as mass media advertising services.

The investigation showed that every US$100 spent by online advertisers in Australia, not including classified ads, $47 will go to Google, $24 to Facebook and the remaining $29 to other media companies.

The government will respond at the end of this year, especially after three months of consulting 23 recommendations from the 600-page report. Australian Finance Minister Josh Frydenberg agreed that relevant regulations needed to be strengthened.

"Don\'t get me wrong, these companies are among the strongest and have high global values. Therefore, they need to be held accountable and their activities must be more transparent," Frydenberg said.

Google and Facebook management said they would discuss the recommendations with the Australian government.

"The final report addresses important topics in connection with changes in the media and advertising industry of Australia and we have been closely involved with the ACCC during the process," Google said.

Meanwhile, regional Facebook general manager Will Easton acknowledged the importance of correct rules for digital news distribution.

"Because it can have an impact on 16 million Australians who use our services to connect, share and build communities, as well as hundreds of thousands of small business people who use our free tools to grow, develop and create jobs," Easton said.

AP/BIANCA DE MARCHI

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg speaks to the media during a press conference in Sydney, Friday, July 26, 2019. The Australian government released report that recommends more regulation on the market power of multinational digital platforms including Google and Facebook that would ensure fair deals for other media businesses and more control for individuals over how their data is used.

The ACCC, among others, recommends a code of ethics to ensure businesses have access to a platform with a fair, consistent and transparent basis. The code of conduct will allow consumers to know while controlling the data collected and used by digital platforms.

An ombudsman will be appointed to resolve various complaints. The ACCC will also establish a special digital market branch to handle platform related issues. The steps taken by Australia followed the decision of the United States Federal Trade Commission, which this week decided to fine Facebook f$5 billion for violations of privacy.

In the ACCC report contained in the discovery of facts, more than 98 percent of online searches with mobile devices in Australia use Google. Meanwhile, at the same time, of the 25 million Australian population, Facebook has 17 million users. They access Facebook on average 30 minutes a day.

Facebook is facing the possibility of increasing fines until there is restriction on their access globally. (AP/REUTERS/BEN)