A new consumer watchdog, based in the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has launched to oversee plans to give customers more choice and control over their data, promote online competition and crack down on unfair practices, which can often leave businesses and users with more expensive goods and services.
The Digital Markets Unit (DMU) will begin by looking at how codes of conduct could work in practice to govern the relationship between digital platforms and groups such as small businesses which rely on them to advertise or use their services to reach their customers.
It will take a sector neutral approach in examining the role of platforms across a range of digital markets, with a view to promoting competition
Online platforms bring huge benefits for businesses and society. They make work easier and quicker and help people stay in touch, but there is a consensus that the concentration of power among a small number of firms is curtailing growth and having negative impacts on consumers and businesses which rely on them.
Digital Secretary, Oliver Dowden, has asked the DCU to work with the communications regulator Ofcom to look specifically at how a code would govern the relationships between platforms and content providers such as news publishers to ensure they are as fair and reasonable as possible.
This would pave the way for future rules alongside the wider work being done by the UK Government, following the Cairncross Review, which looked at a sustainable future for journalism and the press.
Speaking about the launch, Mr Dowden said: “This is a major milestone in the path to creating the world’s most competitive online markets, with consumers, entrepreneurs and content publishers at their heart.”
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng added: “This is a significant step towards our goal of improving consumer choice and delivering better services at lower prices.
“The UK has built an enviable reputation as a global tech hub and we want that to continue, but I’m clear that the system needs to be fair for our smaller businesses, new entrepreneurs and the wider British public.
“Our new, unashamedly pro-competition regime will help to curb the dominance of tech giants, unleash a wave of innovation throughout the market and ensure smaller firms aren’t pushed out.”
Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive of the CMA said that people shopping on the internet and sharing information online “should be able to enjoy the choice, secure data and fair prices that come with a dynamic and competitive industry”.
The DMU will work closely with enforcement teams already taking action to address practices by digital firms, which harm competition and lead to poor outcomes for consumers and businesses. This includes taking enforcement action against Google and Apple, and scrutinising mergers involving Facebook and eBay.
The Unit will also liaise with important regulators including the Information Commissioner’s Office, Ofcom and the Financial Conduct Authority so that consumers and businesses are comprehensively protected and the new regime is coherent and effective.
