Giants behaving badly: Google, Facebook and Amazon show us the downside of monopolies and black-box algorithms

After reading the article “Giants behaving badly: Google, Facebook and Amazon show us the downside of monopolies and black-box algorithms” by Mathew Ingram, I thought about the discussion we had in class Tuesday. We were given situations, voted and discussed if they were acceptable, unacceptable, or dependent. This article looks at three internet giants, Amazon, Google, and Facebook, and talks about recent times these companies have exposed their power. The article claims that each of these companies is monopolizes, or are doing something to monopolize the product. After reading each recent activity, I thought to myself, is this acceptable, unacceptable, or dependent on other factors?

The first post was on amazon, and how they use their power, to get better deals with book sellers. They make it difficult to find certain books, possibly based on the deals they have with those companies. The article discusses how some believe this is no different than physical stores doing the same things, in order to get better deals on product. However, it makes it even more difficult when the item isn’t physically able to be found. In this situation I find it dependent on a number of factors. Though the article gives a good argument, on how this should be deemed illegal, it seems that Amazon is simply using the laws put in place to their advantage. I would need more information on the deals, and how often this happens, in order to say I believe the action to be unacceptable. The next post talked about google, and their powerful algorithm they use. It discussed a case where a company suffered form an updated algorithm. This company relied on google for customers, and the new update forced their link down multiple pages. The company blamed google, however google denied this happened purposefully, and couldn’t explain how the new algorithm did this. I find this case acceptable, as I doubt google changed their entire algorithm in order to destroy this one company. There are other ways to succeed without google, and though it shouldn’t be on google to have that large of an impact, it seems google did something to improve their own brand, and unknowingly hurt another. The final post was on Facebook, and how their algorithm helps pave the way for users to view certain posts. This seems to be the most unacceptable, however I still believe it is dependent on other factors. Facebook shouldn’t be using code to have people view certain things over others. However it is just as much on the user, to avoid things they don’t want to see. Also there are a number of other platforms that could be used, if Facebook isn’t giving you proper content.

In the end the article discusses ways to avoid these companies, but in fact these companies are unavoidable. They are the gold standard, and use their power accordingly. This is no different than any other giant company, it just happens to be internet based, which most believe should be free. What I gained from this article, and class discussion, is there is a lot of grey area in these scenarios. They are dependent on a number of things, and though they seem intrusive, it is a matter of how the companies use these advantages.