The report called on the government to “publish a draft…that would help deter predatory practices by big tech firms” and warned that consumers would be “at risk if Digital Markets Unit [was not] given teeth”.

The Committee noted that there is “strong evidence of abuses of market dominance which warrant intervention” and recommended that the draft Bill be “published without delay”. In answer to a recent parliamentary question tabled by Jess Phillips MP, DCMS Minister Damian Collins stated that “The Draft Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill […] will be published as soon as parliamentary time allows. Arrangements for pre-legislative scrutiny will be decided in due course”.

In a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee hearing last week, Chair Julian Knight MP pushed Minister Julia Lopez on why pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill was necessary. The Director for Media and Creative Industries with the DCMS, Robert Specterman-Green, cited payment for content as a key area of contention in the pre-legislative scrutiny stage, noting that the social media platforms have “different incentives” to the publishers in this discussion.

When asked about what lessons the Government has learned from Australia’s moves to introduce a mandatory bargaining code between tech platforms and publishers, Lopez noted that the Government would need to be “very careful” that the DMU does not run the risk of driving content off platforms altogether through “excessive intervention”. She added that that the CMA is very conscious of ensuring smaller publishers are protected and that any power imbalances are addressed. The CMA would be “open” to allowing a similar collective bargaining model for small local publishers in the UK to that negotiated in Australia, she added.

The PPA continues to engage with Government and parliamentarians to push for Digital Markets Unit legislation to be brought forward, as well as continuing dialogue with Digital Markets Unit and DCMS to ensure the substance of the policy is as effective as possible.