Robert Thomson on “algorithmic abuse” by Google, Facebook and Amazon

News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson said regulators should scrutinise “algorithmic abuse” by Google and Facebook.

News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson said regulators should scrutinise “algorithmic abuse” by the tech giants as the competition regulator probes the Australian digital ad market.

Mr Thomson said he is concerned by the growing extent to which these firms impact the diversity of journalistic content and products available to consumers, particularly through the algorithmic selection of news stories and products owned by the tech giants themselves.

“One of the things to watch out for is algorithmic abuse because, clearly, there was a point of concern among publishers that if they spoke up that they would be banished,” said Mr Thomson.

“And it’s a particular issue, for example, when you look back to the Amazon-Hachette dispute of three, four years ago, when it suddenly became much more difficult to find Hachette authors, or the delivery dates that Amazon concocted in its algorithm for Hachette books were much delayed — weeks rather than days or even hours.”

Mr Thomson has been the most ardent critic of the way in which Google and Facebook damage quality publishers and promote dubious provenance in the pursuit of clicks.

Algorithms such as PageRank — the computer code that powers Google’s search results — has a powerful impact on digital news consumption.

Algorithmically curated filter bubbles — where users may find themselves receiving less exposure to new information or conflicting viewpoints — may even affect the way a country votes.

A high-powered investigation will scrutinise both of these issues as part of a world-first Australian Competition & Consumer Commission probe into the digital media market.

Speaking at the Deutsche Bank Media, Telecom & Business Services Conference, Mr Thomson said he was worried by the stunning ascent of Amazon’s audiobook service Audible, whose aggressive pursuit of publishing rights is squeezing traditional book publishers in the fastest-growing segment of the market

“When you have that amount of monolithic power in a sector — and audiobooks is a sector — and your ability to tweak the algorithm — to give it a tug here to potentially punish your suppliers or, in some way, distort the market — then that is another issue that we need to think about.

“Because if you ponder the evolution of algorithms, they are sophisticated now. How much more sophisticated will the commercial algorithms of these dominant digital players be in two years, in five years, in seven years?”

It comes as US newspaper publishers call on Congress to allow them to negotiate collectively with Google parent Alphabet and Facebook to help them counter their dominance in online advertising and news distribution.

The News Media Alliance — a trade coalition representing some 2,000 organisations — has said antitrust laws have “the unintended effect of preserving and protecting Google and Facebook’s dominant position,” by limiting publishers’ ability to push for changes together.

“Given the difficulties that some publishers are clearly facing, it is ludicrous if there are still regulatory restrictions on these conversations taking place,” said Mr Thomson. “So, I think around the world, there’s now a governmental recognition that those restrictions are inappropriate and more and more of these conversations will take place.”