A two-year investigation has revealed how major digital platforms control information access in South Africa while failing to adequately compensate local news publishers, prompting a landmark payment from Google
The Competition Commission's Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry has concluded with Google agreeing to pay South African media houses R688 million (more than £30 million) following a comprehensive 24-month investigation.
The inquiry found that major global tech companies—including Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, X, and AI firms like OpenAI—dominate the key gateways through which South Africans access information.
Google maintains a dominant position in search, where news accounts for 5-10 per cent of queries, yet does not compensate South African media for content it displays or summarises. The inequality of ad revenue and content visibility is deepening with increased search prominence of AI-generated summaries and foreign media.
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Ina Opperman