"I think that’s outrageous."

Sims said: "They not only created these platforms but they are actively influencing them through their algorithms and making a huge amount of money out of it.

"The longer they take the view that they are just a ‘dumb pipe’, the more intrusive governments and regulators are going to be.

"The pressure for change is coming."

Sims said policymakers in the US and beyond had studied the ACCC's landmark digital platforms report, released in July, and had sought advice about whether the policy ideas could be introduced in their countries.

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The Morrison government has backed the ACCC report which made 23 recommendations to protect consumers, encourage competition and address challenges facing traditional media outlets.

Sims said governments and regulators around the world are increasingly seized by the need to protect social media users' privacy, encourage competition and prevent the spread of online misinformation.

"This used to be a debate of America versus Europe and that’s not there anymore," Sims said

"We have the whole world moving as one now.

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"We are going to solve this and a year ago I wouldn’t have been confident of that."

Sims had an hour-long phone conversation this week with the attorneys-general of Texas and Nebraska, who are leading an investigation into Google’s "potential monopolistic behaviour" that is backed by all US state governments.

"It's amazing to get 50 states to agree on anything, and it shows the momentum is there," Sims said.

The US Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice have also launched a major investigation into whether Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon are abusing their market power.

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If anything, Sims said the American debate about tech regulation, until recently dominated by those opposed to government intervention, was swinging too far in the other direction.

Leading Democratic presidential candidates including Elizabeth Warren have called for the US government to break up Facebook and other tech giants, an idea Sims says is "distracting" and "simplistic".

"It may eventually be concluded that breaking them up is the best thing to do but we’re not there yet," he said.

"I am evangelical about the idea that you can’t solve all these problems through competition law alone."

The lobby group representing Facebook, Google and Twitter on Friday said the ACCC's proposed rules to stop the spread of fake news were "disappointing" and could leave websites and regulators acting as gatekeepers of truth.

The ACCC has recommended that digital platforms with 1 million or more monthly active users sign up to a new code of conduct, including rules about how they handle disinformation.

A spokesman for Facebook said the company was working on the issue "day and night".

"Our teams continue to develop smarter tools, greater transparency, and stronger partnership to help us fight misinformation and prevent election interference," the spokesman said.

A Google spokeswoman declined to comment directly on Sims' comments but said the search platform had "taken a number of steps to curb misinformation in our products".

"We know our work here isn't done, and we'll continue to evaluate our efforts to help improve our products," she said in a statement.

with Jennifer Duke