Though the new Australian Government appears likely to continue its predecessor’s support the ACCC’s proposals, the timeline for advancing new regulation is unclear
Closing the ACCC’s five-year study of digital platforms
On 23 June 2025, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released the tenth and final report of its five-year Digital Platform Services Inquiry. The inquiry, which was launched in February 2020 at the direction of the Australian Government, covered a wide range of topics in digital markets, including search services, digital advertising, social media and e-commerce services. Across the lifespan of the inquiry, the ACCC produced nine interim reports, each focused on a specific issue within the digital competition space. The final report, which was completed as of March 2025 but only published this month, restates the ACCC’s prior advocacy for a number of regulatory changes aimed at better addressing behaviour by large platforms that limits competition and harms consumers, including the creation of an ex-ante regulatory framework that is currently under consideration by the Government.
The regulator envisions an economy-wide intervention to rein in harms experienced in the e-commerce market
To address some of the consumer harms faced in digital markets, the ACCC first endorsed a recommendation to implement economy-wide reforms to prohibit unfair trading practices commonly encountered online. Similar to the prohibitions on certain commercial conduct put forward by the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act as well as under consideration in the EU’s forthcoming Digital Fairness Act, the ACCC recommended that all firms, including digital platforms but also any firm doing business online, should face certain obligations and restrictions to ensure fair and transparent interactions with consumers. Specifically, the ACCC argued for taking action to address fake product reviews, harmful apps, scams and dark patterns or other deceptive user interfaces. The regulator also underlined its support for the creation of an external dispute resolution body, advocating the creation of an industry ombudsman for digital platforms, in addition to ensuring platforms adhere to obligations for internal dispute resolution. Again, the ACCC pointed to requirements in both the EU and UK that mandate consumers have access to internal and external dispute resolution processes that meet certain standards for transparency and efficiency. The regulator also highlighted the importance of an external resource for SMEs that raise disputes with a digital platform, citing data from the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman showing that complaints from small businesses regarding the conduct of digital platforms have more than doubled in the past three years.
The proposed ex-ante competition framework would reflect the co-regulatory approach of Australia's online safety law
The final report also reiterated the ACCC’s support for the introduction of an ex-ante competition framework for digital platforms, which it detailed first in its September 2023 interim report and endorsed again when the Government opened its own consultation on such a framework in December 2024. Despite the regulator’s persistent concern for the expansion of big tech firms into new and adjacent markets, its proposed regulatory intervention would only see the creation of service-specific industry codes akin to those developed under the Online Safety Act under the supervision of the eSafety Commissioner. The ACCC proposes that the legislation would provide direction on the types of conduct that would be impermissible by any service, such as tying, self-preferencing and hindering interoperability, but that industry stakeholders would develop the specific obligations placed upon regulated firms in coordination with the relevant regulator (i.e. the ACCC itself). It is unclear whether or how the legislation could address conduct that spans more than one regulated service, for example the combination of user data across multiple platforms. This legislative proposal, as well as the other regulatory recommendations made and restated by the ACCC in the report, were largely supported by the previous Government but have not yet been introduced in Parliament following the May 2025 election.
