The ACCC to investigate Facebook and Google’s power in the Aus media market

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been requested to run an investigation to examine Facebook and Google’s power in commercial dealings. Namely, to decipher whether digital content aggregation platforms are having a negative effect on competition in media and advertising services markets.

The request comes straight from the Turnbull government in the wake of ACCC merger reviews, which prove advertisers are moving away from shown print to reach their audiences and turning their focus to digital media.

“The ACCC goes into this inquiry with an open mind to and will study how digital platforms such as Facebook and Google operate to fully understand their influence in Australia,” said ACCC chairman Rod Sims. “We will examine whether platforms are exercising market power in commercial dealings to the detriment of consumers, media content creators and advertisers.”

Rod Sims said the ACCC will look closely at the Australian media market and “the level of choice and quality of news and content being produced by Australian journalists.”

Spokespeople from Facebook and Google told AdNews they welcome the investigation: “We look forward to a thorough inquiry into the Australian media market,” the Facebook spokesperson said.

The music industry’s relationship with Google and Facebook has been turbulent to say the least

The UK music industry revealed that in 2016, artists earned more from vinyl sales than they did from YouTube payments aka royalties from views of music videos.

What’s more, massive advertisers such as Adidas, Deutsche Bank, Mars, Cadbury and Lidl have pulled their commercials from Google-owned YouTube, as the company releases their new protection measures, in the form of a fun listicle about child predators.

Meanwhile, Facebook’s music strategy is becoming more permanent as the months roll by. While the social giant announced a host of new hirings at the company to assemble a team of music industry professionals, it still needs all the necessary music publisher/society licensing deals with the industry.

Those deals are said to be costing Facebook hundreds of millions. But given the fact Facebook users watched an average of 100 million hours of video on the platform every day (2016), the platform has been robbing music creators of royalties from monetisation for years now.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.