Epic Games, maker of the popular Fortnite game, has taken its courtroom battle with Apple to Australia, hitting the tech giant with a lawsuit for allegedly abusing its market power.
Facebook will press on with its argument that it can’t be sued in Australia by the country’s privacy commissioner for alleged disclosure of users’ personal data, after a judge found there was enough evidence the social media giant conducted business in the country by installing and operating cookies on the devices of Australia users.
Facebook’s argument that it can’t be sued by the privacy commissioner in Australia has fallen flat, with a judge rejecting the social media giant’s application to dismiss enforcement action brought in March over the disclosure of users’ personal data.
The High Court has rejected an appeal challenging a ruling that found a failed political candidate liable for defamatory responses made by readers of two Facebook posts he published that labelled a South Australian businessman greedy and selfish, but the court has left the door open to weigh in on the issue of secondary publication of social media comments.
App stores have become the latest battleground in the the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s investigation into digital platforms, with the regulator promising to look at data sharing practices, pricing and competition between Google and Apple, the two biggest players in the market.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has signed an information sharing agreement with four competition regulators around the globe that will boost its current and future investigations into Google and Facebook.
Social media giant Facebook has come out swinging over the Morrison government’s proposed news media bargaining code, threatening to stop Australians from sharing local and international news on Facebook and Instagram if the code becomes law.
Facebook and Google have been hit with a class action alleging their 2018 decisions to ban advertising of cryptocurrencies breached competition laws.
Google and Facebook will face penalties of at least $10 million for breaches of a media bargaining code drafted by the ACCC that aims to create a “level playing field” between Australian media companies and the tech giants.
US-based Facebook has argued that it does not carry on business in Australia despite users in Australia accessing its website, calling for the dismissal of action brought by the Australian Information Commissioner over alleged privacy breaches.