Faceless net giants writing own rule books

Businesses have little recourse - or human contact - when resolving disputes with Google or Facebook, write Julian Lee and Ben Grubb.

Australians use them more than any other websites and to many they have become essential services, oiling the wheels of life and commerce at the click of a mouse.

But when Google or Facebook no longer wants you, it can be all but impossible to find out why, as internet entrepreneur Mark Bowyer and others have found to their cost.

Earlier this year Google banned ads from his travel website, Rusty Compass, because it said the site "poses a risk of generating invalid activity".

Almost four months and an appeals process later Bowyer is none the wiser as to what that means but is acutely aware of his dependence on an "arbitrary, algorithmic, human-free" service.      Full Read