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Abstract:By Byron Kaye SYDNEY (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc 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.
div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBy Byron Kayep
pSYDNEY Reuters – Amazon.com Inc has declined to describe its productsearch system to an Australian competition regulator that has heard complaints of large marketplace platforms giving preference to inhouse wares.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv
pThe company‘s withholding of the information sets the scene for a possible repeat of Australia’s 2021 showdown with Facebook Inc and Alphabet Incs Google, which resulted in those firms paying content royalties to the media.p
pThe regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ACCC, mentioned Amazons stance in a report issued on Thursday that was part of the same fiveyear review of bigtech regulation that involved Facebook and Google.p
pThe 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 inhouse products.p
pAmazon had told the regulator it did not give an advantage to its own products but “the ACCC sought details about inputs of Amazons algorithms, which were not provided,” the report said.p
pAs a result, “the ACCC does not have information about how Amazons algorithms produce search results,” the report said.p
pAn Amazon representative was not immediately available for comment.p
pQuestionnaire 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 secondhand products are available in small print at the bottom of the listing”.p
pThe ACCC noted that, unlike other large online retail markets, such as those of the United States and Britain, Australias was not dominated by Amazon. The company did not start operations in the country until 2017. p
pIts sales in the year to June 2021 were just a quarter of the A5.3 billion 3.8 billion generated by eBay Inc, the ACCC said.p
pStill, 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.p
p“Hybrid marketplaces, like other verticallyintegrated digital platforms, face conflicts of interest and may act in ways that advantage their own products with potentially adverse effects,” ACCC chairperson Gina CassGottlieb said in a statement accompanying the report.p
p“We have concerns about particular examples of selfpreferencing by hybrid marketplaces in Australia, which mirror similar concerns raised by overseas regulators.”p
p1 1.4053 Australian dollarsp
p
pp Reporting by Byron Kaye in Sydney and Jaskiran Singh in Bengalurup
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