Australian watchdog to check dominance of tech giants

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s competition watchdog on Monday recommended tougher scrutiny and a new regulatory body to check the dominance of tech giants Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google in the country’s online advertising and news markets. It comes days after Australia passed laws forcing tech companies to help police access private user data, and amid growing concern from authorities worldwide about the giants’ commercial behaviour and distribution of so-called “fake news”. The recommendation, in a preliminary report on the U.S. firms’ market power, is being closely watched around the world as lawmakers wrestle with the powerful tech firms’ large and growing influence in public life, from privacy to publishing. “It is potentially a game changer,” Margaret Simons, an associate professor of media at Monash University in Melbourne, said by phone, since it would bring the tech companies under a regulatory framework more typically applied to media firms. Traditional media companies in Australia including Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd and News Corp’s local arm – already squeezed by online rivals – welcomed the ACCC suggestions in separate statements on Monday.