Digital platform services inquiry 2020-2025
In February 2020, the Australian Government directed the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (“ACCC”) to conduct an Inquiry into markets for the supply of digital platform services.
As part of the Inquiry, the ACCC is required to report to the Treasurer every six months until the Inquiry concludes with a final report by 31 March 2025.
ACCC’s intended examination into Social Media Services
On 16 August 2022, the ACCC released a media release announcing that the ACCC’s Digital Platforms Services Inquiry will be looking into social media competition and consumer issues as part of its next six monthly report to the Treasurer.
This was expected given the focus of the ACCC’s five year inquiry into markets for the supply of digital platform services in Australia and their impacts on competition and consumers, as well as the known compliance and enforcement priorities of the ACCC for 2022 / 2023, which includes influencers who fail to disclose sponsored posts.
What will the ACCC consider as part of the Inquiry?
The ACCC released an Issues Paper and has invited written submissions from interested stakeholders in relation to the questions raised in the Issues Paper, as well as any other issues not otherwise raised, but which is otherwise considered relevant to social media services. Interested stakeholders have until 9 September 2022 to provide written submissions to the ACCC if they wish to do so.
The Inquiry is in relation to both potential competition issues in relation to social media service providers, as well as competition and consumer issues arising on the platforms themselves.
Some of the issues the ACCC will consider as part of this Inquiry include whether consumers are faced with potentially misleading and / or deceptive claims through sponsored ads or posts featuring influencers, and whether this has increased or decreased over time, as well as whether businesses are impacted by misleading and / or deceptive claims through sponsored ads or influencer posts.
What will happen following the Inquiry?
The resulting report following the Inquiry will consider whether there is a need for a new regulatory framework to address the competition and consumer concerns which have been identified in the digital platform services markets.
We will provide updates over the coming months as further information is released.
For more information about meeting your legal requirements for your influencer marketing campaigns, contact us.
Information contained within this blog post is intended to be general information only and is not in any way intended to constitute legal advice. You should not act or rely on any information found in this blog post without obtaining prior advice specific to your circumstances.
