Amazon, Google and Wish take down neo-Nazi, KKK merchandise
Firms remove products after BBC report, which found algorithms on the websites recommended purchasing other white supremacist products
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Amazon, Google and Wish have taken down neo-Nazi and white supremacist merchandise that was sold on their platforms.
The removal of the products comes after a BBC investigation found neo-Nazi books and Ku Klux Klan paraphernalia could be bought on the companies’ websites, the British broadcaster said Saturday.
The report said algorithms used by e-commerce sites Amazon and Wish would also suggest other white-supremacist goods, including those of the far-right libertarian group, the Boogaloo movement.
Among the items sold on Amazon was a flag with a Celtic Cross, which the Anti-Defamation League said was “one of the most important and commonly used white supremacist symbols,” as well as another flag bearing a symbol used by the gunman who killed 51 people last year at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Several KKK products were available on Wish, including a cartoon and a hood resembling those worn by members of the white hate group.
Both Amazon and Wish removed the items after being contacted by the BBC, while Google took down racist content from Google Play and Google Books.
All three companies said they prohibit the sale of racist merchandise on their platforms.
Oren Segal, head of the ADL’s Center on Extremism, told the BBC the firms had to be “constantly be on top of what the algorithm is recommending,” adding that the algorithms need to be “taught to be responsible.”
The Times of Israel Community.