Amazon CEO says company won’t remove anti-Semitic films

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NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Wednesday the company has no plans to stop selling the anti-Semitic film that recently gained notoriety after the Brooklyn Guardian Nets, Kyrie Irving, tweeted an Amazon link to it.

Pressure has been mounting on Amazon to halt sales of the film, titled « Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, » since Irving shared the link to the documentary with his millions of Twitter followers in October. The synopsis on Amazon says the film « uncovers the true identity of the children of Israel. »

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At the New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York, Jassy said it’s difficult for the company to determine what content crosses the line where Amazon doesn’t make it available to customers.

“As a retailer of content for hundreds of millions of customers with many different points of view, we must allow access to those points of view, even if they are objectionable – objectionable and they differ from our points of view. individuals, » the Times said, citing Jassy. .

He said making decisions about what content to remove is « simpler » in some cases, such as when it « actively incites or promotes violence, or teaches people to do things like paedophilia ».

Dozens of celebrities, public figures as well as Jewish organizations and networks have called on the company to remove the film or add a disclaimer explaining why the documentary and related book are problematic.

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Amazon told the newspaper earlier this month that it would consider adding a disclaimer to the main page of the documentary. But that didn’t happen.

The Seattle-based company did not respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment earlier this month on whether or not it would add a disclaimer. Jassy, ​​who is Jewish, said Wednesday that Amazon has employees flagging the content, but it may be difficult to scale it more broadly.

“The reality is that we have very extensive customer reviews,” he said. « For books that get a lot of attention — especially public attention — customers do a good job of watching others. »

Irving was suspended by the Nets on Nov. 3 after refusing to issue an apology requested by NBA commissioner Adam Silver for posting the movie link. He returned after issuing an apology more than two weeks later. He missed eight games.