ACCC

Norwegian shipping company Wallenius Wilhlmsen Ocean has been fined $24 million for conspiring to fix the rates charged for shipping vehicles to Australia, bringing the total fines won by the ACCC over the shipping cartel to $83.5 million.

Herbert Smith Freehills has snagged one of the country's leading competition lawyers who advised on two of the biggest and most contentious mergers in recent years from rival Clayton Utz to join its market-leading competition and trade practices group.

Google is looming large over the advertising technology world, the ACCC says in a new report highlighting growing concerns the global tech giant's "unrivalled" ability to preference its own technology could affect competition.

While a Federal Court judge recently promised to advance a long-running criminal cartel case against several investment banks and individuals over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement, a separate judge will soon hear a privilege dispute over documents from whistleblower JPMorgan that promises to further delay the case.

The chair of the ACCC says that while it has made concessions in response to complaints from Google and Facebook about its proposed media bargaining code, it won't budge on the final offer arbitration model which would be used to resolve disputes with media companies under the code.

Tech giants Google and Facebook have come under fire in a Senate inquiry for their "threats" to block news in Australia if a draft media bargaining code proposed by the ACCC is passed without any amendments.

Fonterra has hit back at claims in a class action that the dairy giant misled farmers and breached its supply agreements when it slashed milk prices and sought a clawback in 2016, saying it warned farmers of the "extreme" volatility in the market.

Online retailer Kogan has been fined $310,800 for sending marketing emails to more than 42 million consumers without an easy way to unsubscribe, in violation of spam laws.

Facebook and Google should not be expected to solve the challenges currently facing the Australian media industry, according to the social media giant, which has called on the government to address concentration in the media market.

The ACCC is considering taking legal action against Google after the search giant completed its $3 billion acquisition of fitness device company FitBit before the consumer watchdog could finish its investigation into the transaction.