The Competition Commission found that Google and YouTube reproduce South African news content, but provide no remuneration to local publishers.
Google and YouTube have agreed to establish a combined R688 million media support package to fund national, community and vernacular media in SA.
This is one of the key recommended remedies in the Competition Commission’s Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry final report, which was released today.
The report found Google and YouTube reproduce and summarise South African news content, but provide no remuneration to local publishers.
The final report is the culmination of 24 months of extensive evidence-gathering, public and in-camera hearings, expert submissions, consultations with industry stakeholders, and a provisional report process that enabled broader public input from media publishers, broadcasters, the digital platforms themselves and academia.
According to the commission’s investigation, there are reasons to believe some online operators have impeded or restricted fair competition among their competitors, and these actions may undermine the purpose of the Competition Act.
Companies under review include Google, Facebook owner Meta, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, TikTok, Microsoft and OpenAI.
The inquiry found that these global platforms dominate key gateways through which South Africans access information: search, social media and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools.
In search, Google maintains a dominant position, where news represents 5% to 10% of queries and drives user engagement that is monetised through commercial advertising.
Google does not, however, compensate South African media for the news content it displays, according to the report.
Referral traffic to media websites has declined sharply as users increasingly consume AI-generated summaries, or remain on Google’s own platforms.
Furthermore, Google’s algorithmic structure tends to favour large foreign outlets over local or vernacular media, deepening inequality in content visibility and advertising reach. Microsoft exhibits a similar foreign bias through its MSN service, which contracts relatively few South African publishers.
In terms of social media, platforms such as Meta (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp), YouTube, X and TikTok play a large role in distributing news to South Africans, particularly within community and vernacular audiences.
Speaking at the release of the report, James Hodge, acting deputy commissioner of the Competition Commission and inquiry chairperson, commented: “While these social media platforms gain immense engagement value from news, few South African outlets are accredited or technically enabled to monetise their content on the platforms.
“Both Meta and X have deprioritised posts containing news links, substantially reducing referral traffic to publishers’ sites. The SABC relies heavily on YouTube for content distribution but earns minimal revenue-share compensation. Social media algorithms also foster the spread of misinformation and disinformation by promoting sensationalist material over credible sources, imposing social costs that the media must absorb in combating fake news.”
After extensive engagement and two months of negotiations with global platforms and stakeholders, the Competition Commission says it has finalised a comprehensive list of remedies designed to restore fairness, transparency and sustainability in SA’s media ecosystem.
Paula Fray, panel member of the Media and Digital PlatformsMarket Inquiry, noted that most major platforms have agreed on the remedies and will implement them immediately.
“Central to these outcomes is a R688 million media support package agreed with Google and YouTube, which will fund national, community and vernacular media through a combination of content licensing, innovation grant and capacity-building initiatives.
“This includes support for newsroom innovation, contributions to the Digital News Transformation Fund, and funding for vernacular-language training through the Media Development & Diversity Agency (MDDA). The vernacular training with MDDA is one of the various initiatives under the package.
“Google will also introduce 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, in turn, will extend its MSN news contracts to include five additional national publishers,” stated Fray.
Google’s dominance across the advertising technology stack has entrenched dependency and raised costs for media, with its bundled systems giving preferential treatment to its own exchange, according to the report.
“While South Africa cannot resolve these global distortions alone, aligning with international regulatory and legal efforts could help restore fairness. AI and digital platforms also offer opportunities for innovation, but only if local media can collectively bargain, build technical capacity and access fair compensation for their content.
“Sustained collaboration, investment and policy support remain vital to ensure a diverse, credible and sustainable South African media ecosystem,” the report finds.
The inquiry recommends that the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition issue a block exemption to enable collective bargaining by South African media over platform monetisation terms, AI content licensing, advertising technology pricing and joint ad sales for community media.
In parallel, the Department of Communication and Digital Technology is encouraged to develop content-moderation regulations under the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, introducing self-regulation frameworks for social media platforms and establishing an independent social media ombud to oversee public complaints and moderation practices.
