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Google will reportedly face investigation in South Africa from the country’s Competition Commission over potentially anti-competitive practices with news publishers. Companies like Meta may end up facing the same probes. Over the past few years people have steadily been moving towards getting their news online. Whether that be on mobile devices like phones and tablets or through computer browsers. A side effect of this transition though has been larger websites like Google and Facebook gobbling up readership to generate ad revenue, by showcasing snippets of news ripped from content put out by news publishers.
Both companies have already been met with stiff criticisms in parts of the US, Canada, and elsewhere over this very matter. Google even recently agreed to a large payment to publishers in Germany. This practice by both companies has been criticized for a few years now. So it shouldn’t be surprising that regulators from other regions are taking a closer look.
Google and Meta may use bargaining power to unfairly compete with news organizations for ad revenue
According to Reuters unfair competition over ad revenue with news publishers won’t be the only focus of investigation. But it does seem to be a big part of it. The probes aim to see if Google and Meta use their considerable bargaining power to leverage the ad revenue. Additionally it seeks to discover if “market features” have any sort of impact on that competition.
Commissioner Doris Tshepe sees this as a pivotal moment for the investigation. As the funding needed to publish or broadcast news isn’t coming from all the same sources as it used to. Much of the revenue from online news comes from advertising. Though you will still find some publications charging a subscription fee as you would for traditional print publications.
Google and Meta are also but two companies whose websites will be under the microscope. Reuters notes that X, Bing, YouTube, TikTok, and Google Ads will be included in in the inquiry.
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