Executive Summary for the Digital Advertising Industry
The ACCC’s final report from the Digital Platform Services Inquiry outlines urgent regulatory reform aimed at addressing consumer harms, anti-competitive conduct, and market concentration in the digital ecosystem. The recommendations have direct implications for the digital advertising industry, particularly around transparency, competition, and platform accountability.
Key ACCC Findings Impacting Digital Advertising
- Lack of transparency and verifiability in ad delivery and outcomes, weakening trust and efficiency in the advertising value chain.
- Expansion of digital platforms into generative AI raises concerns about biased outputs, use of data without consent, and impact on consumer trust in advertising environments.
- Consumer harm from dark patterns such as hidden fees, auto-subscriptions, and manipulative ad design—undermining confidence in digital advertising environments.
- Dependence on vertically integrated cloud services by a few dominant players may affect the competitiveness of independent ad tech and martech services.
- Market dominance in ad tech services leading to concerns over self-preferencing, tying of services, and limited transparency in auctions and pricing.
Key ACCC Recommendations Relevant to Digital Advertising
IAB Australia continues to play a key role in improving transparency, supporting measurement standards, and driving industry collaboration in areas highlighted by the ACCC, including ad tech, retail media, privacy-conscious data use, and effective digital trading practices. Industry members are encouraged to engage with IAB Australia’s working groups and resources to help ensure alignment with future regulatory frameworks and best practices.
- Implement service-specific mandatory codes for designated digital platforms, targeting anti-competitive behaviour in ad tech.
- Introduce an ex-ante digital competition regime to allow preventive regulation, not just reactive enforcement.
- Legislate an economy-wide prohibition against unfair trading practices, covering misleading ad structures, reviews, and targeting.
- Enforce mandatory internal and external dispute resolution standards for digital platforms used by advertisers and small businesses.
- Empower ACCC to monitor emerging tech like generative AI and cloud computing for their impact on digital ad competition.
- Establish the Digital Platform Regulators Forum (DP-REG) as a permanent cross-agency body to manage digital platform oversight.
Next Steps and Recommended Actions
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- The Australian Government will continue consulting on the implementation of a new digital competition regime in 2025.
- Industry stakeholders, including advertisers and media companies, should prepare to contribute to upcoming consultations and code development.
- Digital advertising businesses should review platform relationships, particularly in ad tech and app marketplaces, for compliance and risk exposure.
- Brands should ensure ad transparency, consumer consent for data use, and platform accountability practices are aligned with future legal standards.
- Engage with IAB Australia, which has long supported improved transparency, competition and effectiveness in digital advertising and industry bodies to contribute to policy development and ensure commercial interests are represented.
While some of the issues outlined in the ACCC’s report require regulatory solutions, there are also existing and emerging industry and technical tools that can help address these challenges. The development and adoption of best practices, standards and transparent frameworks will be essential in ensuring the digital advertising ecosystem continues to evolve in a sustainable and effective manner. IAB Australia remains committed to helping the industry thrive by delivering independent research, facilitating collaboration, and supporting the development of practical guidance and standards across all areas of digital advertising.