Once again , Amazon is being put on blow for racist and anti - Semite products that third - political party sellers are funneling through the retail giant ’s platform .
The non-profit-making Simon Wiesenthal Center wrotea letterto Amazon father and executive chairman Jeff Bezos one year ago urging the monolithic online retailer to take down a issue of anti - Semetic and neo - Naziproductsand films being deal or put up for cyclosis on its platform . A yr subsequently , they ’ll still shout on the ecommerce giant to do more to contain what ’s being sell on its internet site .
Amazon , alongside fellow digital shops from Google and Wish were alsocalled outin 2020 for allow these symbols to be trade . In a Thursday pressrelease , the Simon Wiesenthal Center said Amazon previously removed 20 national socialist propaganda films that were either available for sale or cyclosis .
This item from the brand “vogueteen” was being listed as a “Gammadion Cross” as well as “Buddhism Hinduism Pendant Necklace” on Amazon. Also notice how the various skull masks often associated with far-right groups are often bought alongside the necklace.Screenshot: The Simon Wiesenthal Center
Many of themovieslisted by the Center were made by Leni Riefenstahl , the infamous director of Triumph of the Will and other national socialist propaganda pic create in the thirties . Though some of the listing have been have down , many of Riefenstahl ’s pic listings still remain up . Several either come up as “ out of stock , ” or look with “ This television is currently unavailable to watch in your localization . ” All the other movies luff out by the pith have since been removed .
Rabbi Abraham Cooper , the associate dean of the Center , told Gizmodo in a Zoom audience Friday that with the ascension of anti - Semitism online , especially with influencers like Ye ( formerly Kanye West ) coming out as amajor hatred build , there ’s a new raft of smaller retail land site selling anti - Semetic dress . He enjoin it ’s not enough that Amazon should silently remove these Cartesian product from its site . alternatively , he enjoin the company needs to reconfigure its algorithms and third - company vendor polices to make it harder for multitude to market racist and anti - semitic mathematical product .
While Amazonsaysit regularly removes detail that rape its policies , sealed products plain still luxate through . Cooper tell Amazon has not yet responded directly to his organization despite the company having take down some of the mentioned ware . He said the company necessitate to craft some kind of system that would prevent it from monetize hateful products .
“ It ’s only not acceptable for the biggest economic colossus on the auction block to play games of Wack - a - mole rather than fix things , ” the Rabbi aver . “ We do n’t need to know what your algorithm is . What I ’m interested in knowing is if this is something that could be prepare easy by Amazon , without make any substantial slit in their bottom line . And the fact that they have n’t done so on their own is bad enough . ”
Hate Symbols Are Still Being Sold on Amazon
One list pointed out by the Simon Wiesenthal center was a Hakenkreuz trade by the brand listed as “ vogueteen . ” That product listing seems to be no more , but a cursory count into the store page show up vogueteen sells other symbols often employed by neo - Nazis includingthe black sun symbolisation . The store sells other kinds of loud biker chique fashion let in chains bear theIron Cross , which is another plebeian symbolization employed by some white supremacist groups . The store does sell one Jewish Star of David pendent .
Gizmodo reached out to Amazon for remark on the removed intersection and how such products end up on the website , but the company wane to put up a financial statement . The party ’s vile and controversial materialspolicydoes mention it prohibits products that promote intolerance toward wash , religion , or intimate orientation course , though Amazon did not suffice questions on how these product keep getting posted to its political platform .
Other product noted by the non-profit-making include flags have a bun in the oven the inglorious sun symbolization . The Simon Wiesenthal Center also channelise to a number of products often bought alongside these hatred symbols . One was U.S. flag cut in one-half and tack together together with the Norse Mjolnir symbol , which theAnti Defamation Leaguehas noted has been conquer by neo - national socialist groups . One of the most common items buy alongside the Nazi paraphernalia are skull masks . These masksare often associatedwith far - correct radical like the Proud Boys and was a common mass at event like the Jan. 6 insurrection .
Amazon cultivate on a three - tier system for its sellers . First - company sellers sell their products forthwith to Amazon who then turns around and deal them to customers , while second - company sellers are the sort of product labeled as “ sold by brand , ship from Amazon . ” Third - party trafficker , on the other bridge player , use Amazon ’s on-line market to market their products but they themselves plow the merchant marine . Amazon has said there areover 2 million active third - party sellerswho , for years , make up over 50 % of total saleson the platform .
After years of dealing withscam vender accountsandbad productsfrom some on-line storefront , Amazon has said it has a multi - layer check scheme to validate the identicalness of third - party marketer , includingvideo conferencing . Amazon does call for that sellersshare product IDs and imagesbefore they can start listing products , so it puts more of the essence on the online retailer to check that racist products do n’t go for sales agreement on its political program .
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