Report: Amazon Profits From Sale Of White-Supremacist Propaganda

Shoppers can purchase Amazon.com merchandise displaying symbols of white supremacy, such as a swastika necklace, a baby onesie with a burning cross, and a child’s backpack featuring a neo-Nazi meme, all in contradiction of the retail giant's policy against selling products that promote hatred, according to a new report from two watchdog groups, according to The Washington Post.

Amazon's policy says that “prohibited listings” on its website include “products that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views.” But the report, to be released Friday by the Action Center on Race & the Economy and the Partnership for Working Families, argues that Amazon is failing to adhere to its own policy by allowing the sale of dozens of products in its online store as well as its publishing and music platforms that facilitate the spread of racist ideology.

“It’s clear that Amazon is bringing in money by propping up these hate organizations and allowing them to spread these messages in a moment of rising white nationalism and violence,” said Mariah Montgomery, campaign director for the Partnership for Working Families. The Action Center on Race & the Economy and the Partnership for Working Families are national nonprofit organizations that say they are focused on advancing racial and economic justice.

Montgomery said Amazon, which posted a record $3 billion in profits in 2017, should use its vast resources to curtail the dissemination of white supremacy, anti-Semitism and anti-Islam ideology “rather than seek to profit off hate.”

An Amazon spokesman said the company is in the process of removing some of the identified neo-Nazi bands from its music platform.

“Third-party sellers who use our Marketplace service must follow our guidelines, and those who don’t are subject to swift action, including potential removal of their account,” said Aaron Toso, an Amazon spokesman.

(Amazon founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.)