The ACCC makes a move on digital advertising

***2025 update

The ACCC’s Digital Platforms Branch released its DPSI final report on 23 June 2025. This final report:

• reiterates the current regulation is not fit for purpose of digital products and services;

• makes a series of reform recommendations;

• updates its previous findings in relation to online private messaging, app marketplaces and mobile operating systems, ad tech services and general online retail markets; and

• canvasses emerging competition law issues in relation to cloud computing and generative AI, as well as consumer law issues associated with online gaming.

You can read the full report here: https://www.accc.gov.au/about-us/publications/serial-publications/digital-platform-services-inquiry-2020-25-reports/digital-platform-services-inquiry-final-report-march-2025

***Original blog postAustralian SMEs and entrepreneurs can look forward to a shake-up in the digital advertising world following the release of the ACCC’s Final Report from its Digital Advertising Services Inquiry (Ad Tech Inquiry). 

The report found (unsurprisingly) that competition for advertising technology services in Australia is ineffective, which consumers of such services will know has led to increased prices and suboptimal service levels. The ACCC is now seeking greater powers aimed at increasing transparency and curtailing anti-competitive conduct.

The existing powers enjoyed by the ACCC have not been able to address a number of growing problems in the industry because they were designed for a pre-internet economy. A chief concern of the ACCC is that it be given powers to develop sector specific rules that will allow it to manage conflicts of interest in the digital supply chain. The ACCC also highlighted the need for an industry standard requiring service providers to make public their fees.

The ACCC’s recommendations reflect a broader movement towards sector-specific regulation of digital services markets.  The proposals are heavily influenced by the recent findings from their equivalent regulatory bodies in Europe and Asia Pacific that are aimed at increasing transparency, ensuring data segregation and reducing self-preferencing.

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The above article was written by Pippin Barry (BA, JD, 2012 - The University of Melbourne), an Australian Legal Practitioner.