COMU2140 Report on Digital Platforms Online Tutoring

Executive Summary

Digital platforms have developed into global giants after the development of the fast-paced internet with time. They are not only the platforms that provide a communication bridge between two entities but are one of the biggest means of business too. They provide a wide range of services to the customers which are mostly free, in exchange for the user data and their attention towards the platform. This large amount of user data means that platforms can even collect the data beyond what the user actively provides while using the services. They gain authority to use and disclose the data freely although privacy preferences exist there always are different levels of awareness varying from user to user. This usage will be a lot fair if all the customers actually are informed and have control over their personal data so that they can make choices in accordance with their will. However, many features involving the customer-digital platform relationship are preventing the users in making choices they trust in, which not only makes it an imbalance in usage but also sometimes makes it an unfair agreement. Using techniques and agreements which are way too vague and difficult to understand for a general user, using take it or leave it policy, the location access policies, are proving as a disadvantage for the customers. The policies implemented in Australia regarding the privacy of user data on the digital platform also does not completely solve the doubts. Here the ACCC’s updated recommendations are noted for the data bargain and viewed under the ACMA’s view and how they can be implemented. This submission addresses the sections of the ACCC final report that are related to the regulatory functions of the ACMA’s remit as ACMA has the responsibility for the regulation of media and communications content in Australia.

Introduction

Digital rights have become a topic that cannot be ignored in the world where digital communications and technologies are playing a key part in social life (Havens & Lotz, n.d,2012). The non-state platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, etc. gaining access to user data, analyzing and trading it has developed some fears in the customers too about how they use this data. Customers around the world have mostly failed to grasp the attention of governments in addressing this issue but the ACCC’s report has focused to address all these confusions.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is aimed at protecting the business rights and obligations, consumer rights, industry regulations, preventing illegal behaviors which include anti-competitive behaviors and price monitoring. It has the power to take action in the Federal Court of Australia to enforce its rulings while administering the Competition and Consumer Act. It aims make a competitive market with fair rules while bringing court actions against companies that breach the Competition and Consumer Act (“Digital Platforms Inquiry: Final Report”, 2020).

Our organization, the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA), an Australian Government statutory authority, has the authority to ensure all the media and communication quality for all Australians. It has a working procedure that includes various regulations, legislations, standards, and codes of practice that oversees the internet, radio communications, broadcasting, and telecommunications. It also works with the industry and the locals in solving evolving concerns and controlling the risks associated with the network and information-based economy (“Australian Communications and Media Authority”, 2020). Knowing the fact that the Australians are interacting with digital communications in new developing ways, ACMA not only addresses a wide range of responsibilities but also takes into consideration the rapid change. ACMA also has a proper check and balance mechanism in which it looks after a complaint procedure for the Australian residents and the agencies for any kind of prohibited online content. It also enforces the Spam Act-2003 which rejects unsolicited commercial electronic messages. The ACMA also has a separate wing i.e. the Australian Internet Security Initiative (AISI) which is aimed at addressing the problem of malicious software and any kind of attack.

Key Issues

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a report by the title Digital Platforms Inquiry: Final Report which calls for significant changes to the regulatory landscape governing digital platforms. This report focused on the significance of digital platforms such as social media, search engines, etc. on the consumers. It critically assessed the imbalance in power that exists between the consumers and the organizations of digital platforms. Inquiry put forward 23 recommendations for change across the areas of privacy law, media regulation, customer rights, and competition law (Anon, “Australia: A Privacy Code for the Digital Platforms Sector”, 2020). One of the main points highlighted was privacy protection and increasing the regulatory check and balances for digital platforms which involves the use of user’s personal information.

ACMA already gave a brief response to the preliminary report of ACCC regarding the digital platform inquiry. The ACMA supported the main idea of the ACCC preliminary report as it included the policy matters for the government’s decision (Anon, “ACMA response to the ACCC Digital Platforms Inquiry Preliminary Report”, 2020). ACMA agreed to the fact that digital media platforms have a vast impact on the consumers in Australia, which needed to be given a specific set of rules to be followed. ACMA also agreed to another domain that was related to the privacy and collection of personal information that was to be done with amendments to the Privacy Act 1998. This was designed to provide the consumers with a stronger hold on the disclosure, use, and collection of data while lessening the imbalance in bargaining between digital platforms and consumers.

“Digital Platforms Inquiry: Final Report” was published in June 2019 that took two years to assemble. It has a view that the majority of customers and business owners do not have complete idea how much of their personal information is collected nor do they know what they are signing up to when they agree on these digital platform’s terms and conditions. One of the findings that are alarming regarding the terms and conditions these platforms ask their users to sign, is that majority of the users do not even read the whole of the document since it is of such a huge length that naturally, it becomes very hectic to read. This results in them missing important information related to the sharing of their personal information. According to the ACCC review on terms and policies, Six out of the seven policies of Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, Apple, Facebook, Google and Snapchat require at least Bachelors level to understand. Statistics that we gathered from the ACCC consumer survey below, prove the concerns highlighted (Barbaschow, 2020).