‘We must protect quality journalism’: Rod Sims outlines priorities for inquiry into Google, Facebook

ACCC chief Rod Sims has promised to scrutinise the tech giants’ impact to protect quality journalism.

Rod Sims, Chairman of the ACCC. Picture: Kym Smith

Competition tsar Rod Sims has promised to scrutinise the tech giants’ competitive impact to protect quality journalism, as an ACCC inquiry examining the market power of Google and Facebook gathers steam.

Mr Sims said the digital platforms were “clear competitors to media companies” in the advertising marketplace, while raising complex questions around defamation law, copyright and journalism codes of conduct.

The inquiry would examine whether the platforms enjoyed “an unfair competitive advantage” due to their unequal treatment by regulations affecting media companies, the ACCC chairman said in a speech delivered at the International Institute of Communications’ Telecommunications and Media Forum in Sydney today.

“Journalism is a highly valued profession, and crucial to our lives. Just like we are well advised not to rely on amateur doctors, perhaps we should not rely on amateur journalists,” he said.

“It is important that governments examine the role digital platforms are playing in society and, as with other companies, determine if polices are needed to curb their pursuit of profit given the problems such pursuit will cause.”

Mr Sims said the inquiry would assess the impact of the digital platforms on the quality of news and journalism in Australian.

“Quality is extremely hard to assess, but broadly speaking we will be investigating whether the reduction in advertising revenue prevents publishers and broadcasters from delivering quality journalism, by which we mean investigative, verified and diverse journalism,” he said.

Mr Sims described the question of how regulators should approach the proliferation of digital platforms — and how they collect and manage users’ data — as “one of the defining questions of our age”.

The first step would be to examine whether the platforms had substantial market power and, if so, how it was being used, he said.

The ACCC will also investigate whether the platforms are “sufficiently transparent in the collection and use of consumer data”, a concern that was highlighted by the Cambridge Analytica data breach.

Facebook admitted that the UK-based marketing analytics firm had misused the personal data of up to 87 million users, including about 311,129 Australians.

“The issue is not just about the wording of a privacy policy. We will be also examining whether users appreciate the value of the data they are providing to these platforms, both when they are using these platforms, and also when they are not,” Mr Sims said.

“In other words, are users ‘selling’ their data too cheaply in exchange for convenience?”

Treasurer Scott Morrison announced the ACCC digital platforms inquiry in December to investigate the disruptive effect of digital platforms on society.

The commission has received more than 57 submissions from media companies, tech companies and advertisers, published on its website.

Media companies including News Corp, publisher of The Australian, accused Google and Facebook of anti-competitive behaviour.

News Corp argued in its submission that the tech giants’ market power prevented publishers from competing on their merits, thereby “reducing the choice and diversity of original and quality news and journalism”.