Complaints from the fintech sector that some major banks have been slow to get with the program when it comes to open banking have proved true with the competition watchdog slapping a $133,200 fine on the Bank of Queensland. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued the penalty and infringement notice against BoQ for allegedly… Read more »
Consumers using online retail marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon “have little effective choice in the amount of data they share”, according to the latest report of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) Digital Platform Services Inquiry. Consumers may benefit from personalisation and recommendations in these marketplaces based on their data, but many are… Read more »
Ridesharing company Uber has admitted it misled customers when it warned them of additional fees for cancelling trips and has agreed to wear a $26 million fine following action by consumer watchdog the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission. Uber has admitted that it breached the Australian Consumer Law by making false or misleading statements in… Read more »
Hotel comparison site Trivago has been hit with $44.7 million in penalties by the Federal Court, misleading representations about hotel room rates on its website and in television advertising, in proceedings brought by the ACCC. The fine brings to an end a four-year legal battle against the Nasdaq-listed German tech company, launched by consumer watchdog the… Read more »
On the last day of his 11 years as chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Rod Sims announced the commission is bringing a “world-first” claim against Meta (owner of Facebook) in the Federal Court for false or misleading conduct. The ACCC alleges Meta failed to take sufficient steps to stop displaying scam… Read more »
The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) has launched legal action against Facebook’s parent company, Meta, alleging the social media giant engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by publishing scam advertisements featuring prominent Australians. The Federal Court case claims Facebook was in breach of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) or the Australian Securities and… Read more »
Prepaid funerals startup Bare Cremation has fallen foul of consumer watchdog the ACCC just two years after it launched. The venture has been handed a $13,320 infringement notice for allegedly making a false and misleading representation about the price of its cremation services. Friends Cale Donovan and Sam McConkey, co-founded of Bare in 2019, pledging… Read more »
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) wants to end Google’s reign as the default search engine for Australians, saying its dominance has likely “stifled innovation and reduced consumer choice”. The consumer watchdog released the interim report of its Digital Platform Services Inquiry on Thursday and has taken aim at Google for penning deals to ensure its Search… Read more »
An ACCC inquiry into advertising technology (ad tech) has found significant competition concerns and potential harms to publishers, advertisers, businesses and consumers from Google’s dominance of the sector. More than 90% of ad impressions traded via the ad tech supply chain are estimated to have gone via at least one Google service in 2020. The… Read more »
Competition regulator the ACCC has agreed to the proposed merger of BPAY Group Holding with eftpos Payments Australia, and NPP Australia (NPPA) in one of the most eagerly anticipated decisions for Australian fintech. ACCC Chair Rod Sims said they found that, at a high level, the services of the three companies do not compete closely.… Read more »
The household fight between parents at work and children learning online for bandwidth at Zoom meetings appears to be driving a shift to higher NBN speed plans for Australian homes. The ACCC’s latest NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report says around 400,000 residential broadband customers moved to higher speed plans in the June 2021 quarter, just… Read more »
Rod Sims, chair of competition watchdog the ACCC, has told his colleagues around the world that the dominance of Apple and Google in app marketplaces may need to be tackled globally with new rules and regulations. In a speech to the Global Competition Review webinar outlining how Australia has been tackling the issue through the… Read more »
Consumer watchdog the ACCC is heading back to the courts, taking on Telstra, Optus and TPG for allegedly misleading consumers over NBN maximum speeds. Problems with consumers getting the NBN speeds they’ve paid for has been a constant legal battle for the regulator, with all the major telcos falling foul of the law in recent… Read more »
Australians may have been struggling to pay their bills, or get through to their mobile phone provider over the last year but new data from competition regulator the ACCC shows that the nations top 3 telcos have not wasted a good crisis, increasing the cost of mobile phone plans by as much as 50%. Since… Read more »
The “significant market power” of the Apple App Store and Google Play in Australia needs to be addressed says Rod Sims, chair of competition regulator the ACCC, to give app developers better terms and conditions, as well as improving the approvals process The second part of the ACCC’s Digital Platform Services Inquiry interim report, which focuses… Read more »
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