Big Tech as Payola

Supermarkets charge manufacturers slotting fees for shelf space, paying premium rates for eye-level placement and end-cap displays. A product placed at eye level is there because its manufacturer paid for the position, not because it is the best option in its category, but consumers have no way to know this. The US Federal Trade Commission investigated slotting fees in 1989 and again in 2000; both times it concluded that the practice harmed competition and hurt small producers without benefiting consumers. Neither investigation resulted in prohibition. The practice of purchasing prominent placement but presenting it as editorial judgment isn’t confined to supermarkets. In the 1950s and 1960s, record labels paid disc jockeys to play their records, presenting purchased airplay as their independent opinion. Congressional hearings in 1959 exposed the practice, the Federal Communications Commission made payola illegal, and Alan Freed, one of the most prominent DJs of the era, was…