Activist group to seek 'clarification' from ACCC on whether the rejection was appropriate or an abuse of market power

Australian commercial television networks have refused to air an advertisement that criticises News Corporation Australia and depicts a man using a copy of the Courier-Mail to pick up dog mess.

The ad, paid for from a "six-figure sum" crowdsourced from supporters of the activist group GetUp, accuses the Courier-Mail and Daily Telegraph of running a political campaign and their owner, Rupert Murdoch, of running an agenda to get rid of Kevin Rudd.

"Fair enough, we all have an opinion," says the actor, while using the newspaper to clean up after his dog. "But political bias presented as news is misleading crap. Don't let the crap decide your vote. Stand up for what you want. Tell Rupert we'll choose our own government."

The commercial was aired on Brisbane's Channel Nine but has since been dumped. Channels Seven and Ten refused to show it from the outset.

GetUp will lodge a complaint with the Australian competition and consumer commission (ACCC) on Wednesday, seeking "clarification" on whether the rejection was appropriate or an abuse of market power.

"We're not necessarily arguing that they are all acting in concert, but they are all doing the same thing and having the same result," GetUp's national communications director Rohan Wenn told Guardian Australia.

"The feedback from GetUp members and non-members has been quite uniform and extraordinary. People seem really quite concerned. Our members are pretty angry that they donated a significant amount of money to run this ad in this crucial time before the election."

The TV networks said they would not air it because it criticised another media organisation. When contacted, channel Ten refused to comment. Nine and Seven have been approached for comment.

A spokesman for the ACCC told Guardian Australia that the commission cannot comment on specific issues or complaints, but generally "suppliers or goods or services, such as media outlets, have the right to choose who they supply goods and services to".

Wenn said that GetUp can't get the ad on air after midnight on Wednesday, when a blanket ban on election advertising comes into force.

"We don't expect the ACCC to come back before the election, but we think this is a longer term argument," he said.

The ad has been widely shared online, with more than 265,000 views on YouTube and at least 3,800 shares from the group's Facebook post alone. However, Wenn said GetUp wanted to reach the audience that does not have social media.

"We wanted to reach everybody. We don't think it's appropriate that the networks can arbitrarily say 'we are denying you access to these people' when they're using public airwaves to run their business," he said.

"You've got the remember, these aren't like regular businesses. They only exist because they have a licence to use the public airwaves. With that licence should come some responsibility to our democracy."