Most Australians have encountered unfair trading practices – report

My Nguyen

24th Jun 2025

About 72 per cent of Australian shoppers have encountered potentially unfair e-commerce practices, including hidden fees, misleading design features, and accidental subscriptions, according to a report by the ACCC.

The competition and consumer affairs regulator found that 82 per cent of consumers agreed that online markets should implement a specialised external dispute resolution body for users to raise unfair trading issues.

“An unfair trading practices prohibition is required to protect consumers from these kinds of tactics, both online and offline,” said Gina Cass-Gottlieb, ACCC’s chairman.

The ACCC is set to reform the regulation for digital platform services due to a significant number of unfair and harmful practices across online marketplaces, according to the ACCC’s 10th and final report of the ACCC’s Digital Platform Services Inquiry.

The ACCC stated that upcoming regulatory reform can benefit Australian consumers and online retailers by increasing competition in digital markets.

Moreover, several global tech giants, including Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon, and Alibaba, have been warned by the ACCC for acting as gatekeepers in digital markets due to the enhanced implementation of AI across businesses.

“Harms to competition in the generative AI sector could hamper innovation, result in lower quality products and services, and force Australian businesses and consumers to pay more than they otherwise would to utilise this technology,” said Cass-Gottlieb.