On 23 June 2025, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) published its tenth and final report of the Digital Platform Services Inquiry (Final Report), concluding a five-year investigation into the conduct and impact of digital platform services.  The Final Report consolidates findings from three major inquiries and sets out a forward-looking regulatory framework aimed at recalibrating competition, consumer protection, and digital governance in Australia.

This blog provides an overview of the Digital Platform Services Inquiry, outlines the ACCC’s key recommendations in the Final Report, and highlights the strategic implications, risks, and opportunities for businesses operating within or alongside digital platforms.  It also provides insight into anticipated regulatory developments and what they mean for corporate stakeholders.

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1. Overview of the Digital Platform Servies Inquiry

The ACCC has been examining digital platforms since 2017 through its:

• Digital Platforms Inquiry (2017–2019);

• Digital Advertising Services Inquiry (2020–2021); and

• Digital Platform Services Inquiry (2020–2025).

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Collectively, these inquiries have made a total of 35 recommendations spanning competition law, consumer and small business protection, media regulation and privacy law.  The Final Report synthesises insights from 14 prior publications and focuses on competition and consumer issues in three key areas:

• recent overseas legislative and regulatory developments regarding digital competition regimes, unfair trading practices and dispute resolution;

• major developments and key trends in online private messaging, app marketplaces and mobile operating systems, advertising technology services, and general online retail marketplaces; and

• potential and emerging competition issues in cloud computing (i.e., the provision of global, on-demand network access to computing resources such as networks, servers, storage, applications and services) and generative artificial intelligence (i.e., a type of artificial intelligence that can create content such as text, images, audio, video or data, in response to prompts entered by a user), and consumer issues in online gaming.

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The ACCC’s analysis is grounded in the reality that digital platforms are now embedded in every facet of commercial and consumer life.  In 2024, 99% of Australian adults used a device to access the internet, and 94% of Australians aged 14 and over owned a smartphone.  With businesses and consumers increasingly reliant on digital platform services, global technology firms - Google, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon - had a combined market capitalisation of more than US$13 trillion by the end of 2024.

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2. ACCC’s Recommendations

The Final Report outlines six key recommendations, each with significant implications for corporate governance, compliance, and digital strategy.  Recommendations 1-4 were first proposed in earlier reports during the ACCC’s multi-year inquiry.  Their inclusion in the Final Report reflects the ACCC’s continued support for their timely implementation.  

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The ACCC also notes that the Australian Government has already taken important steps in response to Recommendations 1 to 4.  A summary of the Government’s response is included in italics below each recommendation.

‍Recommendation 1: Introduce an economy-wide prohibition on unfair trading practices

The ACCC recommends that the Australian Government legislate a general prohibition on unfair trading practices.  This would address conduct that causes significant harm but is not clearly prohibited under existing consumer law, including manipulative user interface designs and exploitative data practices.  The prohibition would apply across the economy, not just to digital platforms.

Government response: The Government legislated penalties for breaches of the unfair contract terms provisions of the Australian Consumer Law, which came into effect on 9 November 2023.  It also consulted on proposed amendments to prohibit unfair trading practices (15 November – 13 December 2024) and announced further consultation in 2025 on protections for small businesses.

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Recommendation 2: Introduce additional measures to protect users of digital platforms

The ACCC recommends targeted measures to enhance user protection across all relevant digital platform services.  These include mandatory processes to prevent and remove scams, harmful apps, and fake reviews (e.g. notice-and-action mechanisms, business user verification, and public reporting), mandatory internal dispute resolution standards, and access to an independent external ombuds scheme.

Government response: In May 2023, the Government announced funding to establish the National Anti-Scam Centre.  The Scams Prevention Framework Act 2025 has since been enacted, creating obligations for regulated entities to prevent, detect, report, and respond to scams.  The Government also requested industry to develop voluntary internal dispute resolution standards by July 2024.

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Recommendation 3: Introduce a new digital competition regime

The ACCC recommends the introduction of additional competition measures through a new power to make mandatory, service-specific codes of conduct for ‘designated’ digital platforms.  These codes would be based on legislated principles and tailored to address the specific competition issues relevant to each type of digital platform service.  The regime would apply only to platforms meeting clear criteria indicating their ability and incentive to harm competition.

Government response: See Recommendation 4 below.

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Recommendation 4: Define targeted obligations within service-specific codes

The ACCC recommends that the mandatory codes proposed under Recommendation 3 include targeted obligations to address specific forms of anti-competitive conduct.  These include self-preferencing, tying, exclusive pre-installation and default agreements, impediments to switching or interoperability, data-related barriers to entry (where privacy impacts can be managed), lack of transparency, unfair dealings with business users, and restrictive contract terms such as exclusivity and price parity clauses.

Government response (Recommendations 3 and 4): From 2 December 2024 to 14 February 2025, the Treasury consulted on a proposed approach to implement a new digital competition regime to be administered by the ACCC.

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Recommendation 5: Maintain a monitoring function for emerging digital technologies

The ACCC recommends that it continue to monitor developments in cloud computing, generative AI, and online gaming under the proposed digital competition regime.  This function would enable the ACCC to assess evolving risks, identify potential harms, and inform future regulatory responses.

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Recommendation 6: Adopt a whole-of-government approach and formalise DP-REG

The ACCC recommends that the Australian Government prioritise a coordinated, whole-of-government approach to digital platform regulation.  It also recommends that the Digital Platform Regulators Forum (DP-REG) be endorsed as a permanent forum with adequate resources to support inter-agency collaboration, information-sharing, and regulatory alignment.

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3. Additional Insights from the Final Report

In addition to its formal recommendations, the Final Report highlights several ongoing concerns that reinforce the need for reform, including:

• many digital platforms continue to use manipulative interface designs that exploit behavioural biases, such as making it difficult for users to unsubscribe or opt out of data collection;  

• there is strong stakeholder support for an independent external dispute resolution scheme, with many consumers and small businesses reporting frustration at the lack of effective redress mechanisms; and

• cloud computing, generative AI, and online gaming are identified as areas requiring continued monitoring due to their potential to entrench market power and introduce new competition and consumer risks.

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4. Impacts of the Digital Platform Services Inquiry

The ACCC’s inquiry has surfaced a range of structural, behavioural, and technological issues that have reshaped the regulatory conversation around digital platforms in Australia.

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Opportunities

• Regulatory Clarity and Reform Momentum: The Digital Platform Services Inquiry has created a clear pathway for reform, with strong alignment between the ACCC’s recommendations and the Government’s policy agenda.

• Improved Consumer Protections: Measures such as scam prevention frameworks, dispute resolution mechanisms, and unfair trading prohibitions promise to enhance consumer trust and safety.

• Fairer Market Conditions: The digital competition regime and targeted codes of conduct could reduce barriers to entry and level the playing field for smaller businesses and innovators.

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Risks and Challenges

• Compliance Burden: Designated platforms may face increased regulatory obligations and scrutiny.

• Implementation Complexity: Designing service-specific codes and dispute resolution frameworks will require careful consultation and legislative precision.

• Innovation Tension: Overly prescriptive regulation may inhibit experimentation and growth in emerging sectors such as AI and cloud services.

• Global Coordination: Divergence from international regimes may create friction for multinational platforms and complicate cross-border compliance.

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5. What to Expect Next

The ACCC has urged the Government to act swiftly, and several developments are already underway:

• Legislative Action: Further consultation on unfair trading practices is expected, and draft legislation for the digital competition regime is anticipated.

• Industry Engagement: Stakeholders will be invited to participate in the design of dispute resolution standards, codes of conduct, and regulatory frameworks.

• Regulatory Coordination: The formalisation of DP-REG as a permanent forum will support cross-agency collaboration and policy alignment.

• Monitoring and Enforcement: The ACCC is likely to expand its oversight of emerging technologies and platform conduct, with a focus on transparency, accountability, and market fairness.

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Businesses operating in or alongside digital platforms should prepare for a more active and interventionist regulatory environment.  Strategic engagement, legal risk assessment, and proactive compliance planning will be essential.

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6. Final Thoughts

The ACCC’s Final Report marks a pivotal moment in Australia’s digital regulatory landscape.  It consolidates years of inquiry into a clear and actionable reform agenda, signalling a shift toward more proactive, principles-based regulation of digital platforms.  With the Government already progressing several key recommendations, businesses should anticipate a more structured and interventionist regulatory environment - one that prioritises transparency, accountability, and fair competition.

Sierra Legal is closely monitoring the regulatory landscape and advising clients on how to navigate the evolving digital framework. For tailored legal and strategic guidance, please contact our team.

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