Liability of Platforms under Australian Privacy Law

Platforms are integral to the lives of Australians. Although the main platforms are subject to Australian privacy law, the law fails to satisfactorily deal with the privacy threats posed by them. Serious weaknesses in the law were identified in the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's report on Digital Platforms, which recommended reforms. Those weaknesses were confirmed, at least in part, by the Commonwealth Government response to the Digital Platforms report. This article explains and analyses the liability of platform operators under the most relevant Australian privacy laws: the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the action for breach of confidence. The article concludes with analysis and observations as to how Australian law relating to platforms might be reformed to more effectively protect the privacy of individual Australians whose information is processed by platform operators.