Faking it just got harder for digital giants

Technology giants Google and Facebook and Australian businesses are set to undergo a 12-week consultation process.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher discuss the release of the ACCC report into Google and Facebook. Picture: John Feder

Australians can expect less fake news in their Facebook feeds and Google search results if the government enforces the recommendations in the Australian Com­petition & Consumer Com­mis­sion’s inquiry into the market power of digital platforms.

Technology giants Google and Facebook and Australian businesses are set to undergo a 12-week consultation process following the release of yesterday’s report, and by the end of the year the government will have an idea of what action it will take.

Should the recommendations outlined by the ACCC be adopted, consumers can expect less misleading information in their feeds, tax deductions for philanthropic support of journalism and a regulator to deal with complaints.

The recommendations follow a Roy Morgan Research survey commissioned by the ACCC last year, which found digital platforms Google, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram were used significantly by Australians.

Facebook’s 17 million Australian monthly users spend about 31 minutes on the site each day, while Australia’s 19 million Google search users spend about 23 minutes a day on the platform.

A separate report released by the University of Canberra this year found 33 per cent of Australians use social media to access news, and 25 per cent use search engines to find news brands.

In its report, the ACCC said it was concerned about the risk of consumers being exposed to deliberately misleading and harmful news, which could cause harm to a person, group, ­organisation or country.

To tackle this, the ACCC wants to manage the spread of inaccurate information on the platforms. Under the ACCC recommen­dations, platforms with more than one million active users in Australia would need to implement an ­industry code of conduct to govern the handling of complaints relating to inaccurate information in news reporting that could cause harm.

An independent regulator such as Australian Communications and Media Authority would enforce this, and would impose large sanctions on code breaches, as well as issue public reports on the volume and handling of complaints received by the platforms.

The ACCC said the code would also consider responses to information spread by fake news outlets with the intent to cause harm, particularly to democracy.