Australian regulator says probe of tech giants spurs five investigations

Australia's competition regulator says it has five investigations afoot as a result of its examination of the market power and public influence of tech giants such as Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google .

"We have five investigations underway, arising from this report," Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Rod Sims told reporters in Sydney.

"Some of them are allegations that could sit under competition law which would go to issues of market power," he added, without specifying which firms they concerned. "Five investigations is quite a lot."

The ACCC's report recommended a new regulatory body be set up to monitor Facebook and Google and their dominance of the online advertising and news markets.