- Dec 30, 2012
- 4,809
Australia has pledged to “lift the veil” on Big Tech’s use of citizens’ data, empowering a new branch of its antitrust authority to analyze how companies like Facebook and Google decide what ads and content to show users.
“They need to be held to account and their activities need to be more transparent,” Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told reporters on Friday following the release of a report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the country’s antitrust regulator.
The new digital platforms division would be able to peek behind the curtain at what are currently proprietary algorithms determining how tech platforms choose what content, including advertisements, their users see. It would have the power to compel tech platforms to provide information, including prices charged on advertising exchanges, and could rule on whether there was enough competition in the market.
The ACCC’s report also recommended stronger privacy laws with greater protection for personal information, including the ability to have one’s data destroyed or moved to another company and the adoption of a statutory tort for the most egregious privacy invasions. Its 23 recommendations also included protections for the press, as well as a code of conduct regulating how tech platforms can profit from user-generated content and how they evaluate complaints about inaccurate information being spread on their services. The ACCC’s reforms are open to public consultation for 12 weeks before the government decides how – or if – to implement them.
“They need to be held to account and their activities need to be more transparent,” Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told reporters on Friday following the release of a report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the country’s antitrust regulator.
The new digital platforms division would be able to peek behind the curtain at what are currently proprietary algorithms determining how tech platforms choose what content, including advertisements, their users see. It would have the power to compel tech platforms to provide information, including prices charged on advertising exchanges, and could rule on whether there was enough competition in the market.
The ACCC’s report also recommended stronger privacy laws with greater protection for personal information, including the ability to have one’s data destroyed or moved to another company and the adoption of a statutory tort for the most egregious privacy invasions. Its 23 recommendations also included protections for the press, as well as a code of conduct regulating how tech platforms can profit from user-generated content and how they evaluate complaints about inaccurate information being spread on their services. The ACCC’s reforms are open to public consultation for 12 weeks before the government decides how – or if – to implement them.