The ACCC’s Digital Platforms Services Inquiry will examine the state of competition for social media services in Australia as part of the sixth interim report of the ACCC’s five-year Digital Platform Services Inquiry.
The competition watchdog will also consider potential consumer issues, including the way that businesses are using social media advertising services such as display advertising, sponsored posts and paid influencers to engage with and advertise to consumers.
The sixth interim report will build on and update the extensive analysis of competition in the social media services sector, published in the ACCC’s 2019 Digital Platforms Inquiry.
Businesses, consumers and other stakeholders are being encouraged to respond to an issues paper released today, which will inform the sixth interim report.
The ACCC will examine competition issues involving social media services, including barriers to entry and expansion faced by new platforms, and hurdles and costs faced by consumers and businesses when they attempt to switch services.
ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said: “Social media has become an essential tool for many businesses as they seek to widen their customer bases and engage and communicate with consumers, and for individual consumers to connect and communicate with each other and access critical information.
"We want to hear from businesses and consumers about their experiences with social media services, including with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Snapchat. We hope to examine trends in user preferences and engagement over time, and consider how users choose social media services.”
The ACCC is also seeking views on the use and abuse of social media services for scams and misleading or deceptive content. Australians lost more than $144 million to scams on social media in 2021, almost double the amount recorded in 2020 and four times the amount in 2017.
Views on the effectiveness of processes offered by social media platforms for consumers and business to report potentially misleading claims in social media advertising are also encouraged.
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