MEDIA & DIGITAL PLATFORMS MARKET INQUIRY: FINAL REPORT RELEASED

MEDIA & DIGITAL PLATFORMS MARKET INQUIRY: FINAL REPORT RELEASED

• 13 November 2025
• Trade, Industry & Competition
• SA Legal Academy

The Competition Commission has published a final report on the findings of an inquiry into South Africa’s media & digital platforms market, which began in March 2023. Among other things, the report recommends that:

• the Department of Trade, Industry & Competition issue a block exemption from certain provisions in the 1998 Competition Act with the aim of enabling ‘collective bargaining by South African media’ on:
  • ‘platform monetisation terms’
  • ‘AI content licensing’
  • ‘AdTech pricing’, and
  • ‘joint ad-sales for community media’, and that
• the Department of Communications & Digital Technologies develop ‘content-moderation regulations under the (2002) Electronic Communications & Transactions Act:
  • ‘introducing self-regulation frameworks for social media platforms’, and
  • ‘establishing an independent social media ombud to oversee public complaints and moderation practices’.

This is according to a media statement on the report, which also announces the imminent implementation of a ‘comprehensive package of remedies’ agreed with ‘most major platforms’ with the aim of ‘restor(ing) fairness, transparency and sustainability in South Africa’s media ecosystem’. ‘Central’ to these is a R688m media support package to be funded by Google and YouTube in support of ‘national, community, and vernacular media through a combination of content licensing, innovation grants, and capacity-building initiatives’.

In that context, the statement refers to:

• Google’s intended introduction of ‘new user tools’ to:
  • ‘prioritise local news sources’
  • ‘provide technical assistance to improve website performance’
  • ‘share enhanced audience data’, and
  • ‘establish an African news innovation forum’
• Microsoft’s intended extension of MSN news contracts ‘to include five additional national publishers’
• ‘in the social media space’:
  • Meta’s intention to:
    • establish a ‘local media liaison office’, and
    • ‘expand monetisation access through workshops, ad credits, and the removal of follower thresholds’
  • YouTube intends:
    • offering ‘automatic access for all South African media to its partner programme’, and
    • supporting the SABC with direct ad sales and archive digitisation
  • TikTok intends rolling out its publisher support suite locally (‘including monetisation and analytics tools’)
  • X Corp intends:
    • making ‘all monetisation programmes available locally’, and
    • providing ‘training workshop’, while
  • ‘all platforms’ are expected to introduce ‘digital literacy initiatives to strengthen media resilience and counter misinformation’.

Turning to ‘remedies’ in the ‘AdTech and AI’ space, with the intention of aligning South Africa with ‘leading global standards’, the expectation is that:

• Google will:
  • ‘extend transparency measures from the European Union (EU), improving visibility into advertising costs and publisher payments’, and
  • ‘remove self-preferencing practices within its ad systems’, while
• AI companies will offer South African media:
  • ‘the same content controls and opt-out mechanisms available in the EU’, and
  • ‘bi-annual training to support the development of a fair and functioning market for licensed content’.

Please click the links below for more details:

• full report
• platform-specific remedial actions
• media statement
• additional information

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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