South Africa: Opened consultation on Statement of Issues concerning the scope of the Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry (MDPMI)

On 17 October 2023, the South African Competition Commission opened a consultation on its Statement of Issues concerning the scope of the Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry (MDPMI) until 14 November 2023. The scope of the inquiry includes search engines such as Google and Bing, social media platforms such as Meta and X, news aggregation platforms, video sharing platforms such as Youtube and TikTok, DSPs, ad networks such as Google Ads and Display & Video 360, ad exchanges such as Google AdExchange, and generative AI such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The inquiry aims to examine whether digital platforms that distribute news media content and associated advertising technology (Adtech) markets distort, impede or restrict competition resulting in adverse effects on South Africa’s news media sector.