14 March 2021
STATION GOSSIP — Amazon has said that it pulled a book that ‘challenges the transgender movement’ because it does not allow books that ‘frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness.’
The online retailer explained its stance in a letter to Congress on Thursday, after several GOP senators demanded CEO Jeff Bezos explain why it had pulled the bestselling book When Harry Became Sally.
‘We have chosen not to sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness,’ Amazon said in response to the Congressional inquiry about the 2018 book.
The letter last month from Republican Senators including Marco Rubio of Florida , Mike Lee of Utah, Mike Braun of Indiana and Josh Hawley of Missouri had accused Amazon of ‘openly signaling to conservative Americans that their views are not welcome on its platforms.’
When Harry Became Sally, by Ryan T. Anderson, had made Amazon’s bestseller list and was on sale on the site for three years before it was pulled without explanation several weeks ago. […]
You know, it’s really easy to not buy anything at Amazon; I’ve managed it for years, and think I’ll have no trouble continuing to not buy from Amazon in the future — nearly every product Amazon sells can be 1) bought elsewhere, and 2) seen as discretionary spending.
Amazon is another tech company (like Google/YouTube) that ought to be examined re divestiture — looking at 2018 (link), AWS had less than a fifth of the revenue but generated slightly greater profits (!) than Amazon’s NA retail business (which of course essentially depends on AWS) — this comparison is no doubt today significantly more in favor of AWS.
AWS deplatformed Parler not long ago (another form of censorship), which got some attention.
While you might still see these practices after divestiture, it would be a more difficult business decision; but they ought to be forced to make these decisions as independent companies.