Australia: Published March 2021 interim report of digital platform services inquiry includes competition assessment of app marketplaces
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Published March 2021 interim report of digital platform services inquiry includes competition assessment of app marketplaces
The ACCC publishes its March 2021 interim report of the digital platform services inquiry, which focuses on app marketplaces as well as the potential abuse of dominance by platforms with detrimental effects for consumers. The report focuses on Facebook and Google as the two biggest and most important competitors in the digital platform services market. The recommendations of the report include the prohibition of so-called unfair trading or contract terms (with regards to in-app payments and the obligation to use the respective app store) as well as the creation of a dispute resolution mechanism. The report also investigates the data handling of app marketplaces. Furthermore, the report proposes six potential measures that shall support consumer and developer choice including the disclosure of algorithms related to app discoverability, access to alternative payment options among others.
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