The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Airbnb, Inc. and Airbnb Ireland UC (together, Airbnb) for allegedly misleading consumers into believing prices for Australian accommodation were in Australian dollars, when in fact for many consumers prices were in US dollars.
The number of passengers flying domestically in April 2022 was the highest it has been since the pandemic began, but jet fuel prices have surged to record levels and airfares are set to increase in the coming months, the ACCC’s latest Airline Competition in Australia report reveals.
The quarterly report, released today, shows 4.5 million passengers flew on Australia’s domestic airlines in April, which is 89 per cent of pre-COVID levels.
The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Mastercard Asia/Pacific Pte Ltd and Mastercard Asia/Pacific (Australia) Pty Ltd (together, Mastercard), for allegedly engaging in conduct with the purpose of substantially lessening competition in the supply of debit card acceptance services.
Mastercard’s alleged anti-competitive conduct commenced in late 2017 in the context of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s least cost routing initiative.
The Full Federal Court today dismissed an appeal by Viagogo AG against earlier decisions by the Federal Court which had found that Viagogo had made misleading claims on its website relating to the reselling of tickets to live music or sporting events.
The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Uber B.V. (Uber), which has admitted it engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and made false or misleading representations in the Uber ridesharing app.
Uber has admitted that it breached the Australian Consumer Law by making false or misleading statements in cancellation warning messages and Uber Taxi fare estimates, and has agreed to make joint submissions with the ACCC to the Court for penalties totalling $26 million to be imposed.
The Federal Court has ordered Trivago to pay penalties of $44.7 million for making misleading representations about hotel room rates on its website and in television advertising, in proceedings brought by the ACCC.
In January 2020, the Federal Court found that Trivago had breached the Australian Consumer Law by misleading consumers when representing that its website would quickly and easily help users identify the best deal or cheapest rates available for a given hotel.
The ACCC has filed an appeal against the Federal Court’s decision to dismiss the ACCC’s allegations that Mazda Australia Pty Ltd engaged in unconscionable conduct.
The ACCC has instituted Federal Court proceedings against Honda Australia Pty Ltd for making false or misleading representations to consumers about two former authorised Honda dealerships, Brighton Automotive Holdings Pty Ltd (Astoria) in Victoria and Tynan Motors Pty Ltd (Tynan) in NSW.
The ACCC alleges that between January 2021 and June 2021, Honda Australia represented to customers of Astoria and Tynan that the dealerships would close or had closed and would no longer service Honda vehicles.
The Federal Court has ordered that Australasian Food Group, trading as Peters Ice Cream, pay a $12 million penalty for anti-competitive conduct in relation to the distribution of ice creams sold in petrol stations and convenience stores, in proceedings brought by the ACCC.
The ACCC has instituted Federal Court proceedings against Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Inc. and Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (together: Meta) alleging that they engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by publishing scam advertisements featuring prominent Australian public figures.
The ACCC alleges that this conduct was in breach of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act (ASIC Act).