By Stuart Condie

SYDNEY--Australia could give consumers greater control over how platforms including Alphabet Inc.'s Google use their data amid concerns over the tech giants' domination of local digital ad markets.

Australia's competition watchdog is asking for feedback on proposals including one that would allow users to instruct Google or Facebook Inc. to share their data to news publishers or other social networks.

Other proposals include stopping companies from taking data gathered in the provision of one service and using it for the supply of another service, or requiring platforms to give equal access to all ad tech services.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission made the proposals on Thursday following an inquiry in which it said the domination of digital advertising by Google raised the prospect of conflicts of interest.

"Due to Google's presence across the ad tech supply chain, its strong position in the supply of certain services, and the opacity of the supply chain, Google is likely to have the ability and incentive to favor its own related business interests," the ACCC said in an interim report.

A Google Australia and New Zealand spokesperson said the company had engaged constructively with the ACCC, and believed the ad tech market remained competitive.

"There are many companies, large and small, working together and in competition with each other to power digital advertising across the web, each with different specialties and technologies. Google is just one of these many players," the spokesperson said.

ACCC Commissioner Rod Sims said Google often acted on behalf of both publishers and advertisers, while also selling its own ad inventory.

The report could further escalate the long-running battle pitting Google and Facebook Inc. against the Australian government, which is proposing a law requiring tech giants to pay publishers for news. Google last week threatened to shut down its search engine in Australia if the proposed law isn't changed.

The ACCC said Google takes between 50% and 70% of revenue and between 60% and 100% of ads traded across the four areas of the digital ad market it looked at. It said it was also looking at the extent to which Facebook imposed competitive constraint on other ad tech services.

The ACCC will complete its inquiry and provide a final report to government by Aug. 31.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

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