South Africa Penalizes Google, Meta for Antitrust Moves (2)

South Africa’s antitrust watchdog penalized technology companies including Alphabet Inc.’s Googleand Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook for anti-competitive practices it said hurt local media companies.

The Competition Commission recommended Google pay local news outlets as much as 500 million rand ($27 million) annually for as many as five years, saying its conduct hinders the ability of the news media to secure and monetize digital traffic.

Its report, which follows a 16-month investigation into the tech platforms’ conduct, isn’t final and parties have six weeks to make submissions before a final report is published in four to five months, News24 ...