Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman calls on government to expand powers to help with all digital disputes

The nation’s peak telecommunications mediator wants the Federal Government to expand its powers to help Australians with all digital and social media disputes, after revealing it had received more than 1500 digital platform complaints in the past 32 months.

New numbers from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman on Thursday revealed it had received 1537 grievances from Aussie consumers between January 1 2023 to August 31.

Of the 1500, 71 per cent of gripes were about Google, Microsoft, Apple, Hubbl and Meta.

Up to 36 per cent of complaints were in relation to customers accessing their accounts, while 34 per cent were in regards to fees and charges disputes.

Faulty products and services also made up about 25 per cent of complaints.

Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert urged the Federal Government to expand the TIO to become the Communications Ombudsman so they could assist with all digital complaints.

“When things go wrong online, the cost is profound: people and small businesses are losing time and money,” she said.

“People are struggling to solve their complaints directly, coming up against unhelpful chatbots and automated emails — so they turn to us.

“It’s heartbreaking telling people that unlike issues with telco providers, we don’t have the power to help resolve their digital platform disputes — no one does.

“When someone loses access to their telco service, we work with the consumer and the company to resolve the issue.

“But when someone is accidentally locked out of their social media or cloud storage account and the platform is not responding, there’s nowhere for them to go.”

It comes just days until the government’s social media ban, which will see children under the age of 16 banned from keeping or making social media accounts from December 10.

Platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.

Ms Gebert said the upcoming ban meant it was more important than ever for Australians to have access to a digital complaints body.

“To support government reforms such as the under 16s social media ban and digital duty of care, it’s more important than ever that people have appeal rights when digital platforms get things wrong,” she said.

“Big tech companies have the resources to improve the way they handle complaints, but without stronger digital consumer protections — including an external body to resolve disputes — every day people are left feeling confused and powerless.

“By being able to handle both telco and digital platform complaints, we can help close a key gap in consumer protections and restore trust in the digital economy.”