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Amazon removes Nazi and white supremacist listings
Engadget ^ | 08/03/18 | Mariella Moon

Posted on 08/03/2018 9:21:56 AM PDT by Simon Green

Amazon's policy prohibits the sale of racist and 'hatred-glorifying' goods, but a couple of watchdog groups recently found Nazi and white supremacist products sold on the platform. Those products include jewelry adorned with Nazi swastikas and even a children's book normalizing racist beliefs written by George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party. Now the company has told Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison in a letter that it has already reviewed and removed those listings. Amazon said that it has also permanently blocked the sellers who violated its policies and has put a restriction on the goods the watchdogs found to prevent them from being sold again.

One of the points the Action Center on Race & the Economy and the Partnership for Working Families raised when they called attention to the racist goods is that Amazon was profiting from "products that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance." Unfortunately, the e-commerce giant refused to disclose financial information related to the sales of those items, so we don't know how much it earned from them.

Amazon explained how it scans the products sold on its website, though, telling Rep. Ellison that it uses machine learning to automatically look at and remove listings that violate its policies:

"Amazon makes a significant investment in, and strictly enforces, our seller policies. We have developed sophisticated, automated tools that use machine learning to scan listings on Amazon, automatically removing listings found to be in violation of our policies, before we are ever notified by an external party. These automated tools are supplemented by teams of investigators that conduct manual, human review of our listings on a regular basis."

Upon checking, George Lincoln Rockwell's books are still available on the website, including one entitled White Power. It's not entirely clear if those books are still up for purchase because the website's tools weren't able to spot them or whether Amazon is still in the midst of removing the offending listings. The company did admit, however, that it's still not done pulling Nazi/white supremacists goods from its distribution centers.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: amazon; ecommerce; neonazi
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To: fhayek
Probably yuge availability. 👺
21 posted on 08/03/2018 10:50:09 AM PDT by rktman (Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: moovova

Leftists probably think every crooked hook cross is a nazi swastika. The symbol has been around for thousands of years.


22 posted on 08/03/2018 11:27:04 AM PDT by bravo whiskey (Never bring a liberal gun law to a gun fight.)
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To: Simon Green

Our found father Patrick Henry understood the concept of "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Amazon does not.

That is what makes Patrick Henry an American hero, and what makes Amazon incredibly dangerous. Beware the slippery slope Amazon leaps upon.


23 posted on 08/03/2018 11:33:32 AM PDT by so_real ( "The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools.")
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To: Simon Green

Yeah, but saying “It’s OK to be White” is now condemned as racist, so f*ck that.


24 posted on 08/03/2018 12:04:04 PM PDT by I want the USA back (This week's hypocritical hysteria: Manafort/Russia Probe again!)
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To: Simon Green

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_6_6/142-6195160-1862841?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=antifa&sprefix=antifa%2Caps%2C166&crid=20MR1CJTZDAGC

Over 300 results for, “Antifa”


25 posted on 08/03/2018 3:54:24 PM PDT by outofsalt (If history teaches us anything, it's that history rarely teaches us anything.)
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To: rktman

to be accountable they should list all the groups they have removed - making it obvious who else they seek to sweep away with a ‘wide brush’.

But tyranny is never accountable about its censorship activities

BOYCOTT


26 posted on 08/03/2018 4:48:57 PM PDT by elbook
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To: mrmeyer

For that matter, you can still buy a copy of Mein Kampf by the man himself - $16.95 in paperback.


27 posted on 08/03/2018 5:56:12 PM PDT by proxy_user
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