THE Federal Government is being urged to curb the power of tech giants Google and Facebook amid concerns that consumers are missing out on media diversity and being sucked into online “echo chambers” that do not challenge their existing views.

In a strongly worded submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s inquiry into the impact of digital platforms, News Corp says the digital behemoths possess “substantial market power and are engaging in anti-competitive practices”, preventing publishers from “competing on the merits”.

Their practices have “profoundly” damaged the creation, distribution and consumption of news and journalism in Australia, News Corp said, with an “increase in echo chambers, or filter bubbles” as a result of algorithms that prioritise certain types of content.

For consumers, digital platforms were reducing the choice and diversity of original news content, as well as exposing them to “misuse or even theft” of their personal data.

“Current laws may be sufficient to deal with our concerns,” the submission says.

“However, it may also be the case that some further legislative, regulatory or policy intervention or changes are required to address the negative impacts of the platforms on news and journalism, such as establishing an Algorithm Review Board to analyse and remedy algorithmic distortions of competition.”

Publication of the 57 responses to the inquiry, which is due to report to the Government in December, coincided yesterday with the closure of Cambridge Analytica, the British marketing analytics firm at the heart of the Facebook data privacy scandal.

Facebook’s ability to cause web traffic declines of up to 50 per cent by tweaking how it determines what content appears prominently on the site was also raised.

Fairfax Media’s submission stated a preference for working collaboratively with the tech giants to arrest the dramatic fall in its advertising revenue.

Seven West Media, publisher of The West Australian, warned the unchecked market power of Google and Facebook was posing a threat to traditional media and risked harming consumers.

“It is clear that regulators need to do more to investigate and shine a light on the behaviour of these two companies in data collection, and to consider whether the existing regulatory regime is sufficient to protect the interests of users,” the SWM submission says.