Amazon has removed some Nazi and neo-Nazi merchandise after angry complaints from prominent international Jewish organizations.
The Los-Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center sharply criticized Amazon in a statement on its website Thursday for “monetizing Nazi and neo-Nazi paraphernalia” — and said it asked in an email for the company to “remove the item immediately.”
“In an era when 63% of all religious-based hate crimes in America target American Jews – 2.4% of the US population – at a time when Blacks are once again the number one target of racially-based hate crimes, Amazon should not use its business model to market symbols hate and neo-Nazi paraphernalia,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and director of global social action at the center, said in a statement.
The center provides images of some of the products for sale, including swastika necklaces and bracelets, other jewelry, badges and pins that display Nazi or evocative symbols.
Amazon said in a statement to The New York Post that it uses “proactive mechanisms” to “catch offending listings before customers see them. Our technology continuously scans all products sold for text and images that have been determined to be in violation of policy, and immediately removes them.”
Company officials also noted that “the nature of potentially offensive products is varied and diverse” and that the number of products offered on the site is large.
Although Amazon has removed some of these items, the same products are still being offered for sale, Gizmodo reported on Friday. Cooper told Gizmodo that Amazon should respond to the Simon Wiesenthal Center. He says he’s angry that the company can’t be proactive about keeping hate on the site.
“It’s just not acceptable for the biggest economic giant on the block to play the game of Wack-a-mole instead of fixing it,” Cooper told Gizmodo.
Amazon has a policy regarding offensive and controversial material. It prohibits products that promote intolerance of race, religion, or sexual orientation.
In a similar controversy, Walmart just last week stopped selling “KKK” boots online. Walmart has removed its online listing for hiking boots with a red “KKK” on the tongue, telling Business Insider it will review how “inappropriate merchandise” appears on its platform.
This isn’t the first time Amazon has run into trouble for antisemitic products.
A year ago the Simon Wiesenthal Center sent a letter to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos demanding that Amazon remove more than 20 Nazi propaganda films that could be sold on Amazon’s online portal or made available for streaming on the Amazon Prime video network.