South African watchdog gunning for Google and Facebook

South Africa’s antitrust watchdog penalized technology companies, including Google and Meta’s Facebook, for anti-competitive practices that hurt local media companies. 

The Competition Commission recommended that Google pay local news outlets as much as R500 million annually for as many as five years, saying its conduct hinders the ability of news media to secure and monetize digital traffic. 

Its report, which follows a 16-month investigation into the tech platforms’ conduct, isn’t final and parties have six weeks to make submissions before a final report is published in four to five months, News24 reported.

Google and Meta’s African operations didn’t immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. 

The body also sought a range of remedies from Meta, Elon Musk’s social-media platform X, YouTube and ByteDance’s TikTok, including removing bias in favour of foreign media and promoting vernacular and community media, it said in a statement Monday.  

“There are market features on digital platforms that distribute news-media content that impede, distort, or restrict competition,” the commission said.

The remedies, which are still provisional, only apply to the South African operations of the companies cited, it said. 

Local newsrooms have struggled to stay afloat given that there is “limited scope” for most citizens to pay for news, and subscription models aren’t an option for public and community media, the commission said.