Amazon declines to describe search-algorithm data - Australian regulator (updated)

Kogan.com

28/04/2022 09:03

(Recasts and writes through)
    By Byron Kaye
    SYDNEY, April 28 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc  AMZN.O  has
declined to describe its product-search system to an Australian
competition regulator that has heard complaints of large
marketplace platforms giving preference to in-house wares.
    The company's withholding of the information sets the scene
for a possible repeat of Australia's 2021 showdown with Facebook
Inc  FB.O  and Alphabet Inc's  GOOGL.O  Google, which resulted
in those firms paying content royalties to the media.
    The regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission (ACCC), mentioned Amazon's stance in a report issued
on Thursday that was part of the same five-year review of
big-tech regulation that involved Facebook and Google.
    The ACCC said in the report that it had surveyed 80 online
merchants and that nearly half believed large marketplace
platforms skewed searches and website presentation to favour
in-house products.
    Amazon had told the regulator it did not give an advantage
to its own products but "the ACCC sought details about inputs of
Amazon's algorithms, which were not provided," the report said.
    As a result, "the ACCC does not have information about how
Amazon's algorithms produce search results," the report said.
    An Amazon representative was not immediately available for
comment.
    Questionnaire results published with the report included
several comments accusing Amazon of giving preference to its own
products. One unnamed respondent wrote: "Amazon products are
always listed first and then second-hand products are available
in small print at the bottom of the listing".
    The ACCC noted that, unlike other large online retail
markets, such as those of the United States and Britain,
Australia's was not dominated by Amazon. The company did not
start operations in the country until 2017. 
    Its sales in the year to June 2021 were just a quarter of
the A$5.3 billion ($3.8 billion) generated by eBay Inc  EBAY.O ,
the ACCC said.
    Still, the regulator said that allowing large platforms to
give their own products preferential treatment might influence
purchasing decisions and damage competition. The platforms
should be made to disclose any activities which favoured their
own products, it said in the report.
    "Hybrid marketplaces, like other vertically-integrated
digital platforms, face conflicts of interest and may act in
ways that advantage their own products with potentially adverse
effects," ACCC chairperson Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in a
statement accompanying the report.
    "We have concerns about particular examples of
self-preferencing by hybrid marketplaces in Australia, which
mirror similar concerns raised by overseas regulators."
    ($1 = 1.4053 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Byron Kaye in Sydney and Jaskiran Singh in
Bengaluru)
 ((byron.kaye@thomsonreuters.com; +612 9171 7541; @byronkaye;))