A recent news report states Amazon changed its search results to favor its own products in order to boost its bottom line…
Amazon most definitely holds the title of the biggest e-commerce platform on the web. Now, possible antitrust allegations come from a recent report by The Wall Street Journal, which spoke with insiders. Those individuals say they worked on a change to the company’s algorithms in order to give its own brands more priority.
Amazon Search Algorithm Changed to Push more Profitable In-House Products
The article reports the company made the changes late last year and the tweaks were internally contested. The dissent came due to a rift between Amazon’s Seattle-based retail business and its Palo Alto, California-based search team.
The latter, which is referred to as “A9,” states the retail side pushed them to make the changes which would result in Amazon products gaining more prominence.
Amazon denies the accounts, with a company spokesperson saying, “As any store would do, we consider the profitability of the products we list and feature on the site, but it is just one metric and not in any way a key driver of what we show customers.”
Nevertheless, the mere allegation alone might spur regulators and lawmakers to take action against the company.