The Independent Media Agencies of Australia (IMAA) is supporting the ACCC’s demands for urgent regulatory changes to Australia’s digital media platforms.
This follows the release of the competition watchdog’s final Digital Platforms Inquiry report after its five-year inquiry.
The ACCC recommends broad reforms to strengthen competition and introduce measures against unfair trading practices across the economy.
The IMAA is backing many of the ACCC’s recommendations, including:
• Support for regulation and platform designation, with the introduction of “upfront” rules to stop anti-competitive behaviour before it occurs. This would include designating dominant platforms like Google, Meta and Amazon with clear conduct codes.
• Transparency and accountable conduct in the ad tech supply chain, particularly increased transparency in the Google ad tech stack, fair access to data and inventory, and greater scrutiny of self-referencing practices and bundling services. This would allow indies to compete more fairly and offer greater transparency to their clients.
• A clampdown on dark patterns and consumer manipulation, with a crackdown on subscription traps, hidden fees and manipulative UI/UX design and fake reviews in retail and marketplace ecosystems that damage trust in the broader digital landscape.
• Continued monitoring of emerging risks in areas like generative AI, when used to manipulate pricing, media recommendations or create misinformation, cloud computing, gaming and retail marketplaces to ensure innovation does not come at the cost of competition.
IMAA CEO, Sam Buchanan, said all the recommendations would help create a fairer, more transparent and competitive digital ecosystem.
“As Australia’s largest media industry body, we believe that meaningful reform must prioritise transparency, consumer trust and fair access, especially for the independent sector, which continues to deliver agile, accountable and innovative solutions for Australian businesses. We look forward to working with the government and regulators to ensure the reforms don’t just tame the giants but empower the indies,” he said.
“The ACCC’s recommendations align closely with the challenges our members face daily in dealing with powerful digital platforms, whose commercial practices too often disadvantage independent agencies and their clients. Independent media agencies often face systemic disadvantages competing against platforms and large holding groups with preferential access and pricing. Clearer rules level the playing field.
“Independent agencies are critical to the health, diversity and innovation of the Australian media and advertising industry. We encourage the Federal Government to act swiftly on the ACCC’s recommendations and ensure that upcoming reforms prioritise transparency, accountability and equitable access, giving all agencies, regardless of size, the opportunity to compete on a level playing field.
“The IMAA stands ready to engage constructively with government, regulators and industry stakeholders to help shape a regulatory framework that protects consumers, supports innovation and ensures a vibrant, competitive digital ecosystem for the future.”
The IMAA is also backing the ACCC’s call to continue and expand the Digital Platform Regulators Forum (DP-REG), which brings together the ACCC, ACMA and eSafety to coordinate digital platform regulation.
The IMAA, representing independent media agencies, has consistently pushed for fairer competition, greater transparency, and better access to data and inventory across the industry.
The final report marks the conclusion of the ACCC’s five-year Digital Platform Services Inquiry.
The ACCC said stronger laws are needed to protect consumers and businesses from ongoing harmful practices across digital platform services.
Gina Cass-Gottlieb, ACCC Chair, said: “Digital platform services are critically important to Australian consumers and businesses and are major drivers of productivity growth in our economy.
“While these services have brought many benefits, they have also created harms that our current competition and consumer laws cannot adequately address. This is why we continue to recommend the targeted regulation of digital platform services is needed to increase competition and innovation and protect consumers in digital markets.”
Top image: Sam Buchanan