The tenth and final report of the ACCC’s Digital Platform Services Inquiry will identify emerging issues and chart major developments overseas and their impact on consumers and competition.
The competition watchdog has published an issues paper, which summarises areas of interest and asks stakeholders to provide input.
For the upcoming final report, the ACCC will consider potential or emerging competition and consumer issues in digital platform services in Australia which have not previously been examined, such as online gaming.
Online video games and gaming platforms are estimated to have a total market value of $4.21 billion in 2024, with about 91 % of Australian households owning a video game device or console.
The ACCC has not previously examined competition and consumer issues in online gaming markets but said that there could be current practices in the industry which may give rise to potential competition and consumer concerns.
Among the potential issues for examination in the final report are distribution and subscription models, as well as an examination of design elements which may be deceptive.
The ACCC also will examine potential competition issues relating to generative AI. These may include considering the high barriers to entry in the market and the potential for large digital platforms to strengthen and expand their market power through the integration of Large Language Models (LLMs).
The current ninth interim report of the ACCC’s Digital Platform Services Inquiry, due to government in September 2024, is considering competition and consumer issues in relation to general search services in Australia, including the potential impact of generative AI as it relates to general search services.
Given this current focus, the ACCC is not proposing to further consider the potential impact of generative AI on general search services in the final report..
ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said the report will be a chance to take a global view and see what challenges and opportunities exist worldwide.
"The ACCC’s work on digital platforms over the past five years has already led to changes in our economy and to benefits for consumers. But Australia can learn and benefit from developments elsewhere," she said.
“We are now asking consumers, business owners and others to share their views on the issues we outline so that they can help shape the final report.”
The ACCC’s Digital Platforms Branch is conducting a five-year inquiry into markets for the supply of digital platform services in Australia and their impacts on competition and consumers, following a direction from the Treasurer in 2020. The inquiry reports to the Government every six months and examines different forms of digital platform services, their advertising services as well as data brokers.
This issues paper will inform the ACCC’s tenth report due to be submitted to the Government by March 31 2025.
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