Social media giant said the watchdog has misconstrued Facebook’s position and that its overall inquiry requires much more consideration, analysis, and stakeholder engagement.
Facebook has asked Australia’s competition watchdog to go back to the drawing board with its probe into the local advertising tech (ad tech) space, saying some of its proposals would have a significant impact far beyond the intended focus of its inquiry. «Digital services, including those that generate revenue through personalised advertising (such as Facebook’s), create substantial benefits for Australian businesses and consumers,» it said in a submission [PDF] to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). «Consequently, Facebook considers the ACCC should undertake detailed further consideration, analysis and stakeholder engagement is required to assist the ACCC in assessing the potential broad impact of its proposals and to ensure that those proposals do not stifle innovation, hinder competition, harm businesses and consumers, or otherwise have unintended consequences across the advertising ecosystem.» The ACCC is currently focusing its efforts, again, on Google, saying it’s concerned with » Google’s industry-leading position «. Facebook is off the hook for now as the ACCC said, despite submissions to the contrary, unlike Google, Facebook does not sell its own ad inventory in the «open display market» or through the ad tech supply chain. Instead, Facebook uses its own closed systems to sell inventory directly to advertisers. «[The interim report] makes conclusions about Facebook’s use of data and transparency for advertising which are incorrectly conflated with the analysis by the interim report of Google’s leading position in the supply of ad tech services,» Facebook said. «The interim report misconstrues Facebook’s position in relation to access to data without undertaking proper inquiry or consultation.» The ACCC formed the preliminary view that «the inability of smaller rivals to access the necessary types and volumes of data to compete effectively with Google and Facebook is likely to raise barriers to entry or expansion». «In light of Facebook’s very limited role in ad tech services (as recognised by the ACCC), it is not appropriate for the ACCC to draw conclusions on the role of data in Facebook’s wider business (in ad tech or more generally) by reference to an assessment of how players in the ad tech supply chain access and use data,» Facebook said.
