Amazon’s Self-Boosting Page Rank Algorithm
https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-changed-search-algorithm-in-ways-that-boost-its-own-products-11568645345
A recent change to Amazon’s search feature has added a new metric which some believe to be unfair: items listed which are more profitable for the tech giant are ranked higher in Amazon’s searches. At first glance, this may not seem to be an issue- after all, any company would want to maximize its own profits. Where this becomes an issue, however, is that Amazon is not only a distributor of goods, but a seller as well. As a result, Amazon products such as their Amazon Basics line, which give nearly all profit produced back to Amazon or a subsidiary, will obviously be ranked as more profitable. Of course, items which sell better and have fewer returns will also benefit from this change, but the same effect could be had by measuring those metrics without boosting Amazon’s own sales.
This updated algorithm results in a change in Amazon’s page rank equilibrium in favor of its own products. While our examples in class used incoming and outgoing links to determine page rank, Amazon’s search engine likely uses other factors, such as price, seller reputation, return rate, product rating, and now profitability. By assigning a high weight to the profitability measure, Amazon can ensure that its products will nearly always be the first to be shown to consumers, increasing the likelihood of the consumer purchasing Amazon’s own product. Even without a high weight to this factor, it still gives an unfair boost in the equilibrium calculation to Amazon’s own products, as an otherwise equal product will always be less profitable for Amazon than its own, and will therefore be ranked lower when the algorithm is run.