The 18-month study was a global first when first unveiled but others have since caught up and the Justice Department review is significant because the US has previously attacked European regulators for taking too hard a stand against the big platforms.
University of Marylands Professor Frank Pasquale, who is in Australia this week for a University of Melbourne conference, argues Facebook should be split up because its control is too big and “it is not a company that has shown itself to be trustworthy.”
“We need bold leadership.” he added
The US Federal Trade Commission is close to finalising a case against Facebook for privacy breaches which according to the Wall Street Journal will involve personal pledges from its chief Mark Zuckerberg and a fine of as much as $US5 billion.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is due to release his response to the ACCC report within the next week.
It will involve the creation of a new division of either the ACCC or ACMA to monitor computer algorithms and their impact.
There are also a handful of legal cases which could flow from the report.
The big two, Google and Facebook, account for around 85 per cent of digital advertising.
Professor Pasquale has written a book called The Black Box Society looking at how data collection has changed the legal debate.
Artificial intelligence is based on the data but the issue relates more to the quality of the data and how it is used which in turn changes question of legal liability.
If a machine makes a mistake who is responsible.
The data is being used in all sorts of ways, like a recent Microsoft study examining how people use the mouse on their computer which can predict whether they are likely to suffer from Parkinson's disease.
In the wrong hands that sort of information is potentially diabolical.
The way data is collected and used takes place in a black box. More transparency is needed which is precisely the aim of the ACCC study.
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