Australia to develop code of conduct for digital platforms like Google and Facebook

Australia said on Thursday its competition regulator will develop a voluntary code of conduct governing bargaining power concerns between digital platforms and media businesses. In July, Australia said it would create the world’s first dedicated office within an antitrust regulator to police Facebook Inc and Google. [caption id=“attachment_7584141” align=“alignnone” width=“1024”] Google wants an order preventing the consultants from disclosing sensitive information or working for rivals until one year after their consultancies end.[/caption] Extending the reach of the Australian Competition Consumer Commission (ACCC), the country’s government said it will task the regulator will developing guidelines to ensure substantial market power is not used to lessen competition in media and advertising services markets. (Also read: Google is being sued by the ACCC for exploiting users’ data: Here is why that matters )