[dzonga]

one example - Yanis gave on channel 4: was Amazon not only owns the mall. But with their algorithm - they can decide to show you what shops they want you to see. in a regular mall -- you can explore the mall willy nilly. nothing is exactly out of bounds in terms of the shops you see. you wanna visit a sex store - that's on you.

on amazon / google etc with their algorithm certain shops / websites are blocked from you ever noticing they exist due to their algorithms.

[TheCleric]

I think this is a fantastic point. Since they own the algorithm and the store, this is like renting a slot at a mall thinking you have a good spot by the food court where you have plenty of traffic, but one day you come in and the mall has placed you at the end of a dark hallway while the mall has replaced your store with one that sells stuff just like you did, but mall branded. Yes you're still in the mall, but good luck making money.

This is something Amazon does now with their basics line. Waits for something to get popular, makes it themselves, and then pushes you down in visibility: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/amazon-i...