Return of the regulatory state: A stakeholder analysis of Australia’s Digital Platforms Inquiry and online news policy

Abstract

In this paper, we undertake a stakeholder analysis of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's Digital Platforms Inquiry to understand the nature and influence of different forms of public input. Our findings show that nation-state regulation of digital platforms is now very much on the policy agenda worldwide, with a focus upon the competition policy dimensions of platform regulation. The second key finding is that the regulatory activism of the ACCC have ensured that the Inquiry and its findings have had maximum public impact. Finally, we argue that the key dynamic shaping the Inquiry was the competing demands of the traditional news media publishers and digital platforms, and that civil society input was relatively limited and secondary to the final recommendations.

The changing role of nation states in online content governance: A case of Google's handling of government removal requests

“…Depending on whether it has a feature of democracies or autocratic states, the form of national interventions in content removal may vary, as reflected in factors such as the type of requester, the primary reason for the request, pattern, and intensity of requests over time. Although it has been argued that a long history of Internet control applies to most countries regardless of the characteristics of the political system (Flew, 2021), it remains to be answered "how" these controls were exercised and patterned by different types of political regimes, especially in the realm of content moderation.…”

“…Based on continued criticism over limited regulatory oversight, the focus of the discussion has shifted from whether or not to regulate, to who should be in charge of regulating harmful online content and what form of accountability and transparency should be required of digital platforms in relation to content‐moderation decisions. Flew, Gillett, et al (2021) found that the global regulatory environment is increasingly turning towards greater external regulation.…”

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Building upon previous studies that divide the governance of digital platforms into three eras (Flew, 2021;Bowers & Zittrain, 2020), this study investigates how one of the most influential digital platforms, Google, has handled removal requests from governments. By sketching the regulatory terrain of Google, the current study seeks a more balanced understanding of content moderation.

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Introduction: Governing the Algorithmic Distribution of the News

“…In this jurisdiction, the major outcome of this recent international reform moment has been an inquiry around digital platforms, which Chapters 6, 7 and 9 in this volume discuss in more detail. The first major proposal to emerge from the inquiry was the News Media Bargaining Code (NMBC), which forced platforms to form commercial agreements with news outlets around the use of their content (Flew, Gillett, Martin and Sunman 2021). However, somewhat hidden in the Act that featured this headline reform were a number of additional standards that designated platforms would be required to follow.…”

“…Many of these reform agendas also appear to align with the goals of the commercial media industry or interest groups across the cultural policy sector. This speaks to a wider historical problem across media policymaking, which sees powerful actors prioritized over civil society and the wider public (Flew, Gillett, Martin, and Sunman 2021;Freedman 2008).…”