Bruce Billson 

Published in the Bendigo Advertiser and ACM Network

14 October, 2024

BIG tech digital platform providers need to urgently lift their game and provide clear, appropriate and easily accessible help for small business - with a real person they can talk to.

Whether it is Facebook, Instagram, Uber, Amazon, eBay, Shopify or any of the many other digital platform providers, small and family businesses are getting a raw deal when they need help.

This has become one of the fastest growing areas of complaint among small businesses and often requires one of our case managers to get involved to sort out the dispute.

In the past three months alone, the number of complaints to my agency about digital platform providers has soared by 86 per cent compared to the same time last year.

And over the past two years, the number of small and family businesses who have suffered some sort of disruption to their business at the hands of a digital platform has more than doubled.

Digital platforms have fundamentally changed the way small businesses connect and sell to their customers. They provide fantastic opportunities to reach and delight new customers.

But when there is a problem - such as having your account shut down after being hacked - solving it can be a nightmare. These platforms require a time and resource-poor small business to navigate the most elaborate maze of dead-ends and blockages.

It can take many months to resolve and get a business back to business. Some have told us these delays have cost them many thousands of dollars.

Small business owners seeking our assistance are overwhelmed and stressed and the dispute has compounding existing pressures. Frustrations are amplified by the ever-challenging fiscal environment, economic pressures and carry vulnerability aspects.

Small businesses watch helplessly as the financial and emotional damage occurs in real time with no ability to stop it. They lose customers and money, if a credit card linked to these accounts is being used by the hacker or the hacker uses the account to access and harm other customers.

Having someone else access and control their account is devastating for their business and their reputation. Some never recover.

Over the past three months, 73 per cent of the disputes that have come to us involve Meta-owned platforms Facebook and Instagram. Nearly two-thirds of those cases relate to the account being hacked.

Uber is second, accounting for 17 per cent of our caseload, and one in four of those cases are about not being paid.

The common thread we see is small business owners and those who are self-employed devastated by the sudden, unexpected suspension of their account and then having no clear avenue to resolve the problem.

Can you imagine how frustrating it is that the advice from those big tech firms is, can you please log into your account to tell us you can't log into your account? I mean, come on. To quote John McEnroe: "You can't be serious?".

Businesses come to us for help, because in this modern world, often the only channel a business may have to their customers is through these digital platforms, and that's why we think big tech need to do better.

They need to implement clear, appropriate and standardised procedures to enable a timely resolution for small business disputes with clear internal escalation points, promotion of external dispute resolution support and dedicated contacts for dispute resolution agencies like the ASBFEO so small businesses can have their dispute handled efficiently, hopefully resolved and resume operating their businesses sooner.

It needs to be backed by a real person you can speak to when a problem can't be easily fixed. The Australian government has been rolling out a series of cyber support programs for small businesses, with the most recent the $11 million Small Business Cyber Resilience Service to be operated by IDCARE, off the back of the useful and free cyber wardens training and voluntary cyber health-check programs.

We think that's fantastic. It's the kind of thing we've been calling for because even if you take good cyber first aid and training programs, it doesn't mean you're not going to be attacked. This provides free one-onone help to get alongside a small business to build resilience and recover from a cyber attack.

We have also launched a Guide to Using Social Media Securely, available on our website at www.asbfeo.gov.au/sm-securely, which includes tips for small and family businesses about how to reduce the risk of being hacked.

Treat your online business security like you would a shop, factory or your home. You wouldn't leave the doors open when there's no one there. And you wouldn't give a person you have just met the keys to your business or your house, so only give access to your business account to trusted individuals. And remember not all users require full admin access. We urge people to organise multifactor authentication, change their passwords frequently, have some other way of verifying their identity, back up your files regularly, activate software updates and consider using e-invoicing or PayID.

Criminals pretend to be people we should trust like the Tax Office. If an offer looks too good to be true, then it probably is. Trust your Spidey-senses. Take a few extra moments to check you have appropriate safeguards in place to avoid falling victim.

But if your small business does need help resolving a dispute with a digital platform contact us at www.asbfeo.gov.au

Bruce Billson is the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman.