Lead
Recently, some netizens broke the news and complained that when they bought air tickets on online platforms such as Ctrip, they used 3 different accounts to buy tickets for the same flight and the same class, and the final price paid under the three accounts was hugely different, with a maximum difference of more than 900 yuan.
This means that on the same plane, in the same class, there may be passengers who only spend half the price to buy the ticket they need, but there are also some passengers who do not understand all this and become the "boss of the bus and the ninth of the bus", and buy the ticket with the highest price in the same class.
After this incident was exposed, it immediately triggered a lot of people to discuss the topic of "big data killing", and for a while, the Internet was also full of many people's sharing and speculation, because of "Xihong Market", everyone also slowly understood what the word "big data killing" represents, and also learned how in the Internet era, how the network platform uses each user's personal data.
The phenomenon of big data killing has sparked heated discussions
It is not difficult to see that this incident has made many netizens doubt the pricing mechanism of the online platform, and the current online platform is undoubtedly an "algorithm power" with a huge practical ability of "big data killing", so many people have questions about this: did the online platform really deliberately adjust the price difference to such a huge point?
The media used the fact that consumers purchased the same flight ticket multiple times under the same account, but held different accounts and had different account information, which may lead to a difference in "algorithm power", which was one of the reasons for the explanation of this incident.
The media believes that there are two main reasons for the pricing of online platforms, one of which is because in Alipay, Dianping, Ctrip and other online platforms, as long as users log in and carry out operations such as search and browsing, users' personal information will be collected and sorted out by "these online platforms" in large quantities, and when the user data collected by these online platforms becomes large enough, these data will be used for algorithm calculations and "personalized recommendations" of network services.
The media believes that when users search and browse, the online platform will generate an "accurate user portrait" of each person based on the user's operation traces and personal data, which means that every operation and habit of the user will form traces in the browsing history of the online platform, and help the online platform better understand the user's tastes and interests.
In order to allow users to have a better service experience, the network platform will provide different meeting pages for different users based on this information, including the difference in price, most of the network platforms use the combination of big data and algorithms to predict the final browsing and clicking when users search on the platform, in other words, users because the network platform has customized different meeting pages for them, so they also see different prices on these meeting pages, so they choose among different prices, which may be in this incident" account information is different".
After removing the personal subjective factor, there is also an element of "algorithm power" that leads to one of the reasons for this incident, the network platform is built on the use of big data and algorithms to customize the service experience for users, so in every interaction between users and the network platform, the accurate portrait of the user may be updated and improved.
This also means that when users search and browse for a period of time, the online platform's understanding of users will continue to be updated and improved, and the accurate portrait of users will become more and more perfect, so the accuracy of the online platform when customizing services for users will also be higher and higher.
Therefore, when users log in to the online platform with a new account, the online platform's perception of themselves will naturally improve, so it is inevitable that there will be differences in the price of air tickets under different accounts.
It is not difficult to see that in the function of "personalized recommendation" for users on the online platform, the online platform relies on its accurate portrait and high cognition of each user to provide users with the most suitable and attractive price.
However, as the so-called "people can do their best", in the calculation of big data and algorithms, the services of online platforms cannot be "exhausted", and this incident shows us the various unfairness that may occur when online platforms use algorithmic power to customize services for users, which is often referred to as "big data kills ripeness".
Unfair use of data.
It is not a mistake for an online platform to use user data for algorithmic operations in order to provide users with a better service experience, but if the behavior of the online platform using big data and algorithms is regarded as an "algorithmic power", then it also means that the behavior of the online platform will be under the control of the "algorithmic power".
Although it is not necessarily a good thing for an online platform to blindly provide users with cost-effective prices, if the online platform will deliberately price air tickets to the sky just to improve its own profitability, then such behavior is undoubtedly a "harmful" behavior with great benefits.
Although there is now a "Consumer Rights Protection Law", under the existence of intangible assets such as big data and algorithms, the scope of services provided by online platforms is very vague, and if online platforms really have the terrible power of "algorithmic power", then online platforms will become "extremely powerful" because of the intangible assets of algorithmic power, and they are completely unconstrained by regulatory authorities.
Behind this incident, it exposes the unfairness implied by the behavior of online platforms to provide services to users when they use big data and algorithms, that is, when online platforms use "algorithm power", they may not only provide consumers with more benefits, but also make profits for themselves, and even have more possibilities.
It is precisely for this reason that this unfair behavior also gives users of online platforms the opportunity to abuse user data, and in this environment where the boundaries between legitimate and illegal algorithmic powers are blurred, and online platforms will undoubtedly face more regulatory problems and challenges.
The power game behind big data.
So, with big data and algorithms so powerful and vital in business operations, how can consumers protect their rights and interests to ensure that the unfair behavior of "big data killing" is not abused?
From the perspective of managers, the regulatory authorities must strengthen the supervision and law enforcement of online platforms, and ensure that the market environment of fair competition is maintained under the premise of protecting the rights and interests of users, while protecting and guiding the rational application of big data and algorithms in online platforms, so as to effectively prevent the occurrence of "big data killing" behaviors that are not afraid of the normal market order.
As a member of society, if you choose to stand on the side of maintaining fairness, then you must strive to create an environment that continues to put pressure on online platforms, prompting them to be honest and trustworthy spontaneously, and those who violate the law must be prosecuted.
As for users, it is mainly reflected in the process of more active participation in and maintaining a fair market order, and one of the reasons why the "algorithmic power" of online platforms overrides users is that these platforms have collected a large amount of user data, and this data is likely to be collected by users without their knowledge.
Therefore, in this process, the rights and interests of consumers have also been violated, so it is more necessary for the regulatory authorities to require the online platform to obtain the consent of users in an open and clear way in the process of collecting and using user data, so that consumers can choose the scope and purpose of their data use more independently.
In this discussion, many people also believe that in addition to strengthening supervision and maintaining a fair market order, there are some other very important factors, that is, consumer education and information disclosure.
As we all know, in the digital era, information has been digitized and networked, and the collection and use of user data by online platforms has violated the privacy rights of users and the ownership of personal data to a large extent, and in this information asymmetric environment, consumers are even more difficult to move an inch. This content is "very" opaque to most ordinary consumers, so this means that consumers who don't even have all the information can protect their rights and interests in the Internet age?
epilogue
In any case, in the current era of information explosion and digitization of life, the network platform is indispensable for the collection and utilization of user data, and the network platform relies on the combination of these data and algorithms to provide users with personalized services while achieving its own development and growth.