Date: January 29, 2019
Contact: mediacenter@freeandfairmarketsinitiative.org
In Case You Missed It!
Lawsuit Reveals Amazon Exploiting Consumer Data From Its Platform To Stifle Competition On Google
Amazon is taking troves of search data it collects from competitors to push down their position on other retail platforms.
“Amazon advertises its private labels on Google using the same keywords shoppers use on Amazon, raising an independent rival’s costs to advertise on Google. As Sally Hubbard observes in The Capitol Forum, not only does Amazon control its own marketplace and uses that to favor its own goods, it also uses Google’s platform for the same purpose. Indeed, a former Amazon manager told Hubbard that ‘Google gives Amazon higher ranking than a brand itself can get’ under Google’s search algorithm, which rewards Amazon’s high-traffic website. It’s as if the dominant platforms are coordinating in their assault on independent merchants! Gobble gobble.” (Forbes, “How To Stop Amazon From Swallowing The Internet,” Hal Singer, 1.29.19)
To read the full article, click here.
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The Free & Fair Markets Initiative (FFMI) is a non-profit coalition of businesses, consumer advocacy groups, workers and community activists committed to scrutinizing and highlighting emerging market trends that are stifling competition and innovation, influencing federal and local government spending, putting consumer data in harm’s way and limiting consumer choice. For a list of members, please visit https://freeandfairmarketsinitiative.org/about-us/members/. For more information on the Free & Fair Markets Initiative, please visit https://freeandfairmarketsinitiative.org.
