Do you manage your boss’s social media? Australia’s consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), is gearing up to take tech giants Facebook and Google to court, which could impact the way businesses interact with social and digital media platforms.
The proposed action comes after a landmark inquiry into the use of users’ data, which raised questions about how tech firms are gathering and using personal data and who they are sharing it with—among other concerns.
ACCC Chair Rod Sims didn’t pull his punches during a speech to the Melbourne Press Club in mid-August, threatening to boot non-compliant companies out of the Australian marketplace. “Facebook and Google are clearly subject to our laws. They either comply or do not do business in Australia,” Mr Sims said.
Whether or not Facebook or Google will have to change their behaviour remains to be seen, but the ACCC’s action heralds the start of a regulatory crackdown. The proposed regulations will almost certainly alter the way Australian businesses manage their social media, and could impact the way an who EA manages their organisation’s or boss’s account interacts with the platforms.
