Australian Regulator Says Amazon Refuses to Describe Search Algorithm Data

Amazon.com Inc has refused to reveal its product-search technology to an Australian competition regulator who has received concerns about huge marketplace platforms favoring in-house items.

The company's refusal to disclose the information lays the stage for a possible reprise of Australia's 2021 showdown with Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Alphabet Inc's Google, which ended in those companies paying content royalties to media organizations.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) made reference to Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) attitude in a report released on Thursday as part of a five-year assessment of big-tech regulation that also included Facebook and Google.

According to the ACCC, it polled 80 online retailers and discovered that roughly half believed that large marketplace platforms slanted search and website presentation in favor of in-house products.

Amazon assured the regulator it did not provide its own items a competitive edge, but "the ACCC requested details about the inputs to Amazon's algorithms, which were not disclosed," the report stated.

As a result, "the ACCC is unaware of how Amazon's algorithms generate search results," the study stated.

Amazon Australia's head of public policy, Michael Cooley, stated in a statement that the company's offers are "those we believe customers will prefer, regardless of whether they come from Amazon or one of our seller partners."

"We immediately provide data to Seller Partners to assist them in managing their operations and provide critical insights," he added.

Amazon provided retailers with data analytics on their own sales, the amount of customers examining the things they offer, and their conversion rates, according to Cooley.

The ACCC report's questionnaire results contained several responses accusing Amazon of favoring its own products. According to one anonymous respondent, "Amazon products are always placed first, followed by second-hand things in small text at the bottom of the listing."

Unlike other significant online retail markets, such as those in the United States and the United Kingdom, the ACCC highlighted that Australia was not dominated by Amazon. The corporation began operations in the country in 2017, but did not begin operations until 2017.

The ACCC stated its revenues in the year to June 2021 were less than a fifth of eBay Inc's (NASDAQ:EBAY) A$5.3 billion ($3.8 billion) revenue.

Allowing huge platforms to give their own items preferential attention, however, the regulator stated, could affect purchasing decisions and harm competition. The platforms should be required to declare any activity that benefited their own products, the report stated.

"Hybrid marketplaces, like other vertically integrated digital platforms, present conflicts of interest and may act to benefit their own products, which could have unintended consequences," ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in a statement accompanying the findings.

"We are concerned about specific instances of self-preferencing by Australian hybrid marketplaces, which echo similar concerns voiced by foreign authorities."