Amazon is accused of having changed its algorithm to show its own products first

A report published a few hours ago by The Wall Street Journal accuses Amazon of having altered its search algorithm, in order to first show those products that give the company a greater benefit.

Apparently, this modification occurred last year, at which time this change would have occurred with which it seeks to prioritize certain products, among which are their own brands.

Amazon denies these accusations

They say there was a lot of opposition within Amazon by developers (who are part of a group called "A9") of the company. These programmers would have opposed the idea because it was contrary to the company's ethics of putting the customer above everything else.

Amazon's legal team would also have expressed concern about this change, noting that the decision could be examined by the European Union (let's not forget that Google was sanctioned to pay 2.4 billion euros in 2017). They affirm that the executives of the 'retail' sector were the ones who made the most force for this transformation to take place.

If true, Amazon would have decided to end its policy of showing first those products that are considered most relevant or best selling within the platform.

After the story came to light at the WSJ, Amazon said it was inaccurate information and that the company does not determine search rankings based on profitability.

Angie Newman, a spokeswoman for the company , said "the Wall Street Journal is wrong." They accuse the American media of "having moved on" with this story, despite the fact that "we explain to them widely that their unidentified sources were not accurate as to the facts."

"We offer the products that customers will want, regardless of whether they are our own brand or the products offered by our sales partners.

As any store would do, we consider the profitability of the products we list and present on the site, but it is only a metric and is by no means a key driver of what we show to customers. "

However, these accusations could cause regulators to put the magnifying glass on the company. In fact, last week we learned that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has begun interviewing Amazon suppliers about competition issues.