Australian market watchdog wants supervisory body especially for Google and Facebook

The Australian competition authority wants to set up a supervisory body especially for the power of Facebook and Google in the online advertising market. The companies are also powerful in the field of news provision, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The recommendations were made as part of a preliminary conclusion of an investigation into the power of Google and Facebook in Australia. “When you get to a point where you have as much market power as these two have, then there has to be responsibilities and oversight,” said ACCC chairman Rod Sims. That writes Reuters, among others. Facebook and Google agree to cooperate with the Australian market watchdog.

Facebook previously announced that it is a media company. It made those statements during a lawsuit in America. Previously, it maintained that it was just a tech platform, a conduit. The difference between the two is that a media company makes editorial decisions and takes responsibility for the content of its service.

The two tech companies and others have been under scrutiny since the US presidential election in 2016. According to several parties, Russia has used the news and advertising channels of these two companies, among others, to serve up fake news and insincere advertising campaigns with the aim of influencing the election.

The investigation also led to five additional investigations into alleged violations of privacy legislation, but the ACCC did not name which companies were investigated.