(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) Amazon said it is the company’s established policy to censor books that describe people who call themselves LBGTQ as mentally ill, Breitbart reported.
The world’s largest book retailer said it has “chosen not to sell books that frame
LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness.”
But Amazon denied accusations that political bias affected its decision to pull web hosting services from conservative websites, like Parler.
The company said it “provides technology and services to customers across the political spectrum, and we respect our customers’ right to determine for themselves what content they will allow.”
“We simply require that our customers comply with our terms of service…to prevent encouraging and inciting violence that could harm people,” said Brian Huseman,
vice president of public policy.
Amazon’s letter comes in response to Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Braun of Indiana, Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Mike Lee of Utah, who sent a letter to Amazon on Feb. 24.
They asked about the company’s choice to pull When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment, a book written by Ryan T. Anderson that describes the devastating effects of LGBTQ ideology.
“By removing this book from its marketplaces and services, Amazon has unabashedly wielded its outsized market share to silence an important voice merely for the crime of violating woke groupthink,” the senators wrote in the Feb. 24 letter.
Amazon said it has changed the policy since 2018, when Anderson’s book was published.
Anderson responded to his book’s removal on Twitter.
“I am pleased that more people, because of Amazon’s bully-blustering, will become acquainted with Ryan’s thoughtful and compassionate analysis.But I have to say that Amazon’s behavior is yet another worrisome sign that freedom of expression is under siege” https://t.co/lXIjrAOpvk
— Ryan T. Anderson (@RyanTAnd) March 14, 2021
