JOHANNESBURG, Feb 24 – South Africa’s Competition Commission has found Google guilty of anti-competitive conduct and proposed that the company compensate local media outlets up to 500 million rand ($27.29 million) annually. The Commission’s probe revealed that Google’s algorithm has unfairly favored global news outlets over local and community media, a practice that has undermined South Africa’s media industry for the past 14 years.
The Commission’s provisional findings outlined that Google’s search and top stories algorithm disproportionately promotes international news, leaving South African language-based media underrepresented. The investigation also highlighted how this imbalance has led to a significant decline in the sustainability of local media outlets.
To address the issue, the Commission has recommended that Google pay between 300 million and 500 million rand per year for a period of three to five years. The tech giant is also urged to modify its search algorithm to ensure a more equitable distribution of referral traffic to South African news outlets.
In response, Google disagreed with the report’s conclusions, arguing that its platforms generated 350 million rand in referral traffic value for local publishers in 2023, while the company earned just 19 million rand from ads alongside news-related queries. Google also pointed to its continued investments in supporting the local media sector through various partnerships and training initiatives.
In addition to Google, Meta-owned Facebook and X have come under scrutiny for deprioritizing South African news content within their algorithms. The Commission has called on these platforms to restore referral traffic to local media outlets and to enhance their revenue-sharing models to allow publishers to better monetize their content.
Should these companies fail to implement the recommended changes within six months of the final report, they could face a digital advertising levy of 5-10%.
