This was not the commission's sole win against Google
With the help of the ACCC, Australian media companies received payment from Google and Meta for news content in a first.
This is not the commission’s only win against Google; the ACCC also logged a victory against Google in Federal Court last year in a case that found the Internet giant guilty of misleading and deceptive actions in relation to information given to some Australian consumers about its location data collection practices. Google also faced an accusation of potential Privacy Act violation.
The matters handled by the ACCC indicate the proliferation of issues related to digital platforms in recent years. In line with the findings of the 2019 Digital Platforms Inquiry published by the commission, the Digital Platform Regulators Forum (DP-REG), was birthed in partnership between the ACCC, the OAIC, ACMA and the eSafety Commissioner to bring together all four key regulators.
“There are other online data collection areas where there will be overlap between the OAIC and the ACCC. One interesting example is in the area of ‘dark patterns’ – that is, the way platforms can be set up to encourage people to take certain actions, like consenting to sharing more personal data than consumers would typically wish,” explained Angela Flannery, Holding Redlich partner and digital law expert.
“The ACCC sees this as an area in which it has a consumer protection role, whatever the type of dark pattern, and notwithstanding that this practice is unlikely to constitute misleading and deceptive conduct. It is equally an area – at least where dark patterns are used to encourage greater personal information sharing – where the OAIC should be active.”
Flannery expressed her belief that the DP-REG forum would “provide a very useful opportunity for Australia’s four key regulators that have a focus on digital platforms to discuss how they are different, the potential for overlap in their roles in regulating this space, and how Australia’s evolving regulatory frameworks will impact on their priorities and what they do.”
