Amazon Quietly Bans Books Containing Undefined ‘Hate Speech’

Amazon has adopted a rule against books that contain anything the company labels as “hate speech.” It appears there was no announcement of the new rule. It was only noticed by media after the online retailer recently banned a book that criticizes transgender ideology.

It isn’t clear what Amazon means by “hate speech” or even if it used that label to drop that particular book. In general parlance, Americans hold widely diverging views on what constitutes hate speech, a 2017 Cato poll found. Some tech platforms describe it as speech that disparages people based on characteristics such as race, gender, and sexual proclivities. But insider evidence indicates the companies aren’t clear on where to draw the lines, perpetually redraw them, and at least in some instances ignore violations when politically convenient.

“As a bookseller, we provide our customers with access to a variety of viewpoints, including books that some customers may find objectionable,” an Amazon spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

“That said, we reserve the right not to sell certain content as described in our content guidelines for books, which you can find here. All retailers make decisions about what selection they choose to offer, and we do not take selection decisions lightly.”

The statement omitted that the $1.5 trillion company changed the rules sometime after Aug. 10, 2020, apparently without telling its customers.

Previously, Amazon prohibited “products that promote, incite, or glorify hate or violence towards any person or group,” but explicitly stated the policy didn’t apply to books.

Its book policy used to contain no mention of “hate speech,” according to a version of the page archived on Aug. 10. It mentioned that Amazon reserved “the right not to sell certain content, such as pornography or other inappropriate content.”

The current “Content Guidelines for Books” includes a section against “Offensive Content” that reads: “We don’t sell certain content including content that we determine is hate speech, promotes the abuse or sexual exploitation of children, contains pornography, glorifies rape or pedophilia, advocates terrorism, or other material we deem inappropriate or offensive.”

The Amazon spokesperson wouldn’t respond to emailed questions on when the policy was adopted, what constitutes “hate speech,” and how Amazon’s customers were informed about the change.

The change apparently occurred prior to Feb. 24 when JustTheNews reported on the new policy. The report followed the banning of “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment,” a 2018 book by Ryan Anderson, president of the Washington-based think tank Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Amazon purged the book around Feb. 21, though the exact timing is hard to pinpoint since the book’s author only learned about the move from people who were looking for the book, he told the Daily Caller.

Anderson couldn’t get an explanation from Amazon on why his book was banned.

The book argues that the push to encourage individuals who feel like a different gender to undergo sex-change procedures is driven by ideology rather than sound medical advice, according to Princeton University politics lecturer Matthew Franck, who reviewed it in 2018.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/amazon-quietly-bans-books-containing-undefined-hate-speech_3716038.html

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Amazon Streaming Service Removes Clarence Thomas Documentary... During Black History Month

Just in time for Black History Month, the streaming service Amazon Prime Video has removed a PBS documentary about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Amazon Prime Video’s parent company, Amazon, Inc., is owned by Jeff Bezos who also owns the Washington Post, one of the champions of free speech. At least, the paper used to be one.

But the Thomas documentary, “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words,” mysteriously disappeared from the company’s menu while other black history-themed documentaries — including two on Anita Hill, who accused Thomas of sexual harassment during his confirmation hearings — remain available for viewing.

The Federalist:

The Thomas documentary released in January last year remains available to purchase on DVD. A simple search for “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words,” comes up short for the title however. To find it, users must include “DVD” in the search box, and the documentary will come up as the 10th result. A search for “RBG” on the other hand, will bring three documentaries on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s documentary to the top after promoting a sponsored post of her biography, “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”

Amazon did not immediately respond to The Federalist’s request for comment.

Mark Paoletta, who served as a lawyer in the Bush 41 White House and helped to confirm Justice Thomas to the bench, wrote an opinion piece at Breitbart. He pointed out that Amazon created an entire section on its website to “Amplify Black Voces.”

“[T[here may be some so-called liberal documentaries that have been taken down during this period,” he notes, however, “it is very strange that Amazon could not find space on its website to stream a documentary on our longest-serving black Supreme Court justice in American history that ran on PBS in a national broadcast (no small feat) and is a top-selling DVD in its documentary section, while less popular documentaries on Justice Marshall are still streaming.”

This is one case where Amazon’s political bias is very hard to hide.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/02/27/amazon-removes-documentary-on-clarence-thomas-from-streaming-service-n1428813

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