Amazon Bows to Criticism, Removes Auschwitz -themed Christmas

Amazon has reportedly removed and banned a seller from its market place holiday ornaments, a bottle opener and other products displaying images of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. This came after the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland shared images of the products on social media, prompting widespread outrage.

In a tweet, the memorial said the ornaments were inappropriate and called the bottle opener “rather disturbing and disrespectful.” Within hours, the post was shared thousands of times, prompting angry replies and questions about how Amazon vets the products sold through its platform.

An Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement that the products had been removed and that all sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who do not will be subject to action, including potential removal of their account.

According to Amazon’s policy on offensive and controversial materials, products related to human tragedies are prohibited.

The company decides which products are appropriate by considering a global community of customers and cultural differences and sensitivities. The policy does not apply to books, music, videos or DVDS. The online retail giant has been accused of poorly policing its platforms before.

In July 2018, two non-profit groups reported that shoppers could buy onesies for babies stamped with alt-right images, Nazi-themed action figures and anti-Semitic books and music. The groups accused Amazon’s policies banning hateful or offensive merchandise of being weak and inadequately enforced allowing hateful groups to generate revenue, propagate their ideas and grow their movements.

Weeks later, under pressure from lawmakers, Amazon said it would not let third-party retailers sell products that feature Nazi and white nationalist symbolism on its platform.