Amazon:

Amazon.com, Inc.[8] (/ˈæməzɒn/ AM-ə-zon) is an American multinational technology company based

in Seattle, Washington, which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming,
and artificial intelligence. It is one of the Big Five companies in the U.S. information
technology industry, along with Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook.[9][10][11][12] The company has
been referred to as "one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world", as well as
the world's most valuable brand.[13][14]
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon from his garage in Bellevue, Washington,[15] on July 5, 1994. It started
as an online marketplace for books but expanded to sell electronics, software, video games, apparel,
furniture, food, toys, and jewelry. In 2015, Amazon surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer
in the United States by market capitalization.[16] In 2017, Amazon acquired Whole Foods
Market for US$13.4 billion, which substantially increased its footprint as a physical retailer.[17] In 2018,
its two-day delivery service, Amazon Prime, surpassed 100 million subscribers worldwide.[18]
Amazon is known for its disruption of well-established industries through technological innovation
and mass scale.[19][20][21] It is the world's largest online marketplace, AI assistant provider, live-
streaming platform and cloud computing platform[22] as measured by revenue and market
capitalization.[23] Amazon is the largest Internet company by revenue in the world.[24] It is the
second largest private employer in the United States[25] and one of the world's most valuable
companies. As of 2020, Amazon has the highest global brand valuation.[26]
Amazon distributes downloads and streaming of video, music, and audiobooks through its Amazon
Prime Video, Amazon Music, Twitch, and Audible subsidiaries. Amazon also has a publishing
arm, Amazon Publishing, a film and television studio, Amazon Studios, and a cloud computing
subsidiary, Amazon Web Services. It produces consumer electronics including Kindle e-
readers, Fire tablets, Fire TV, and Echo devices. Its acquisitions over the years include Ring, Twitch,
Whole Foods Market, and IMDb.
Amazon has been criticized for practices including technological surveillance overreach,[27] a hyper-
competitive and demanding work culture,[28] tax avoidance,[29] and anti-competitive behavior.[30][31]

Contents

 1History
 2Board of directors
 3Merchant partnerships
 4Logistics
 5Products and services
 6Subsidiaries
 7Supply chain
 8Website
 9Amazon sales rank
 10Multi-level sales strategy
 11Finances
 12Controversies
 13Response to COVID-19 pandemic
 14Lobbying
 15See also
 16References
 17Further reading
 18External links

History
Further information: History of Amazon

The company's largest campus outside the United States was inaugurated in Hyderabad, India in September
2019.

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in July 1994. He chose Seattle because of technical talent

as Microsoft is located there.[32] In May 1997, Amazon went public. It began selling music and videos
in 1998, at which time it began operations internationally by acquiring online sellers of books
in United Kingdom and Germany. The following year, Amazon began selling items including video
games, consumer electronics, home improvement items, software, games, and toys.
In 2002, Amazon launched Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provided data on website
popularity, Internet traffic patterns and other statistics for marketers and developers. In 2006,
Amazon grew its AWS portfolio when Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), which rents computer
processing power as well as Simple Storage Service (S3), that rents data storage via the Internet,
were made available. That same year, Amazon started Fulfillment by Amazon which managed the
inventory of individuals and small companies selling their belongings through the company internet
site. In 2012, Amazon bought Kiva Systems to automate its inventory-management business,
purchasing Whole Foods Market supermarket chain five years later in 2017.[33]
In January 2021, Amazon invested with over $278 million by opening two new centers in Italy
(Novara and Modena) and creating over 1100 jobs.[34]
On February 2, 2021, Amazon announced that Jeff Bezos would be stepping down as CEO and
transition to Executive Chair of Amazon's board in Q3 of 2021. Andy Jassy, who is currently CEO of
AWS, will succeed Bezos as CEO of the company.[35][36]

Board of directors
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2016

As of September 2020, the board of directors is:[37]

 Jeff Bezos, President, CEO, and Chairman

 Keith B. Alexander, CEO, IronNet Cybersecurity, former NSA Director
 Rosalind Brewer, Group President, and COO, Starbucks
 Jamie Gorelick, partner, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale, and Dorr
 Daniel P. Huttenlocher, Dean of the Schwarzman College of Computing at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 Judy McGrath, former CEO, MTV Networks
 Indra Nooyi, former CEO, PepsiCo
 Jon Rubinstein, former Chairman, and former CEO, Palm, Inc.
 Thomas O. Ryder, former Chairman, and former CEO, Reader's Digest Association
 Patty Stonesifer, President, and CEO, Martha's Table
 Wendell P. Weeks, Chairman, President, and CEO, Corning Inc.

Merchant partnerships
In 2000, U.S. toy retailer Toys "R" Us entered into a 10-year agreement with Amazon, valued at
$50 million per year plus a cut of sales, under which Toys "R" Us would be the exclusive supplier of
toys and baby products on the service, and the chain's website would redirect to Amazon's Toys &
Games category. In 2004, Toys "R" Us sued Amazon, claiming that because of a perceived lack of
variety in Toys "R" Us stock, Amazon had knowingly allowed third-party sellers to offer items on the
service in categories that Toys "R" Us had been granted exclusivity. In 2006, a court ruled in favor of
Toys "R" Us, giving it the right to unwind its agreement with Amazon and establish its own
independent e-commerce website. The company was later awarded $51 million in damages.[38][39][40]
In 2001, Amazon entered into a similar agreement with Borders Group, under which Amazon would
comanage Borders.com as a co-branded service.[41] Borders pulled out of the arrangement in 2007,
with plans to also launch its own online store.[42]
On October 18, 2011, Amazon.com announced a partnership with DC Comics for the exclusive
digital rights to many popular comics, including Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, The
Sandman, and Watchmen. The partnership has caused well-known bookstores like Barnes & Noble
to remove these titles from their shelves.[43]
In November 2013, Amazon announced a partnership with the United States Postal Service to begin
delivering orders on Sundays. The service, included in Amazon's standard shipping rates, initiated in
metropolitan areas of Los Angeles and New York because of the high-volume and inability to deliver
in a timely way, with plans to expand into Dallas, Houston, New Orleans and Phoenix by 2014.[44]
In June 2017, Nike confirmed a "pilot" partnership with Amazon to sell goods directly on the platform.
[45][46][47]
 This pilot ended in November 2019.[48]
As of October 11, 2017, AmazonFresh sold a range of Booths branded products for home delivery in
selected areas.[49]
In September 2017, Amazon ventured with one of its sellers JV Appario Retail owned by Patni
Group which has recorded a total income of US$ 104.44 million (₹ 759 crore) in financial year 2017–
18.[50]
In November 2018, Amazon reached an agreement with Apple Inc. to sell selected products through
the service, via the company and selected Apple Authorized Resellers. As a result of this
partnership, only Apple Authorized Resellers may sell Apple products on Amazon effective January
4, 2019.[51][52]

Logistics
Amazon uses many different transportation services to deliver packages. Amazon-branded services
include:

 Amazon Air, a cargo airline for bulk transport, with last mile delivery handled either by
Amazon Flex, Amazon Logistics, or the United States Postal Service.
 Amazon Flex, a smartphone app that enables individuals to act as independent contractors,
delivering packages to customers from personal vehicles without uniforms. Deliveries include
one or two hour Prime Now, same or next day Amazon Fresh groceries, and standard
Amazon.com orders, in addition to orders from local stores that contract with Amazon.[53]
 Amazon Logistics, in which Amazon contracts with small businesses (which it calls
"Delivery Service Partners") to perform deliveries to customers. Each business has a fleet of
approximately 20-40 Amazon-branded vans, and employees of the contractors wear Amazon
uniforms. As of December 2020, it operates in the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany,
Spain, and the United Kingdom.[54]
 Amazon Prime Air is an experimental drone delivery service.
Amazon directly employs people to work at its warehouses, bulk distribution centers, staffed
"Amazon Hub Locker+" locations, and delivery stations where drivers pick up packages. As of
December 2020, it is not hiring delivery drivers as employees.[55]
Rakuten Intelligence estimated that in 2020 in the United States, the proportion of last-mile deliveries
was 56% by Amazon's directly contracted services (mostly in urban areas), 30% by the United
States Postal Service (mostly in rural areas), and 14% by UPS.[56]

Products and services

Main article: List of Amazon products and services
Amazon.com's product lines available at its website include several media (books, DVDs, music
CDs, videotapes and software), apparel, baby products, consumer electronics, beauty products,
gourmet food, groceries, health and personal-care items, industrial & scientific supplies, kitchen
items, jewelry, watches, lawn and garden items, musical instruments, sporting goods, tools,
automotive items and toys & games.[citation needed] In August 2019, Amazon applied to have a liquor store
in San Francisco, CA as a means to ship beer and alcohol within the city.[57] Amazon has separate
retail websites for some countries and also offers international shipping of some of its products to
certain other countries.[58] In November 2020, the company started an online delivery service
dedicated to prescription drugs. The service provides discounts up to 80% for generic drugs and up
to 40% for branded drugs for Prime subscribe users. The products can be purchased on the
company's website or at over 50,000 bricks-and-mortar pharmacies in the United States.[59]
Amazon.com has a number of products and services available, including:

 AmazonFresh
 Amazon Prime
 Amazon Web Services
 Alexa
 Appstore
 Amazon Drive
 Echo
 Kindle
 Fire tablets
 Fire TV
 Video
 Kindle Store
 Music
 Music Unlimited
 Amazon Digital Game Store
 Amazon Studios
 AmazonWireless

Subsidiaries
See also: List of Amazon locations
Amazon owns over 40 subsidiaries, including Audible, Diapers.com, Goodreads, IMDb, Kiva
Systems (now Amazon Robotics), Shopbop, Teachstreet, Twitch and Zappos.[60]

A9.com
A9.com, a company focused on researching and building innovative technology, has been a
subsidiary since 2003.[61]

Amazon Maritime
Amazon Maritime, Inc. holds a Federal Maritime Commission license to operate as a non-vessel-
owning common carrier (NVOCC), which enables the company to manage its own shipments from
China into the United States.[62]

Annapurna Labs
In January 2015, Amazon Web Services acquired Annapurna Labs, an Israel-based microelectronics
company reputedly for US$350–370M.[63][64][65]

Audible.com
Audible.com is a seller and producer of spoken audio entertainment, information and educational
programming on the Internet. Audible sells digital audiobooks, radio and television programs and
audio versions of magazines and newspapers. Through its production arm, Audible Studios, Audible
has also become the world's largest producer of downloadable audiobooks. On January 31, 2008,
Amazon announced it would buy Audible for about $300 million. The deal closed in March 2008 and
Audible became a subsidiary of Amazon.[66]

Beijing Century Joyo Courier Services

Beijing Century Joyo Courier Services is a subsidiary of Amazon and it applied for a freight
forwarding license with the US Maritime Commission. Amazon is also building out its logistics
in trucking and air freight to potentially compete with UPS and FedEx.[67][68]

Brilliance Audio
Brilliance Audio is an audiobook publisher founded in 1984 by Michael Snodgrass in Grand Haven,
Michigan.[69] The company produced its first 8 audio titles in 1985.[69] The company was purchased by
Amazon in 2007 for an undisclosed amount.[70][71] At the time of the acquisition, Brilliance was
producing 12–15 new titles a month.[71] It operates as an independent company within Amazon.
In 1984, Brilliance Audio invented a technique for recording twice as much on the same cassette.
[72]
 The technique involved recording on each of the two channels of each stereo track.[72] It has been
credited with revolutionizing the burgeoning audiobook market in the mid-1980s since it made
unabridged books affordable.[72]

ComiXology
ComiXology is a cloud-based digital comics platform with over 200 million comic downloads as of
September 2013. It offers a selection of more than 40,000 comic books and graphic novels across
Android, iOS, Fire OS and Windows 8 devices and over a web browser. Amazon bought the
company in April 2014.[73]

CreateSpace
CreateSpace, which offers self-publishing services for independent content creators, publishers, film
studios, and music labels, became a subsidiary in 2009.[74][75]

Goodreads
Main article: Goodreads
Goodreads is a "social cataloging" website founded in December 2006 and launched in January
2007 by Otis Chandler, a software engineer, and entrepreneur, and Elizabeth Khuri. The website
allows individuals to freely search Goodreads' extensive user-populated database of books,
annotations, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and
reading lists. They can also create their own groups of book suggestions and discussions. In
December 2007, the site had over 650,000 members and over 10 million books had been added.
Amazon bought the company in March 2013.[76]

Health Navigator
In October 2019, Amazon finalized the acquisition of Health Navigator, a startup developing APIs for
online health services. The startup will form part of Amazon Care, which is the company's employee
healthcare service. This follows the 2018 purchase of PillPack for under $1 billion, which has also
been included into Amazon Care.[77]

Junglee
Junglee is a former online shopping service provided by Amazon that enabled customers to search
for products from online and offline retailers in India. Junglee started off as a virtual database that
was used to extract information from the Internet and deliver it to enterprise applications. As it
progressed, Junglee started to use its database technology to create a single window marketplace
on the Internet by making every item from every supplier available for purchase. Web shoppers
could locate, compare and transact millions of products from across the Internet shopping mall
through one window.[78]
Amazon acquired Junglee in 1998, and the website Junglee.com was launched in India in February
2012[79] as a comparison-shopping website. It curated and enabled searching for a diverse variety of
products such as clothing, electronics, toys, jewelry and video games, among others, across
thousands of online and offline sellers. Millions of products are browsable, the client selects a price,
and then they are directed to a seller. In November 2017, Amazon closed down Junglee.com and
the former domain currently redirects to Amazon India.[80]

Kuiper Systems
Main article: Kuiper Systems
Kuiper Systems LLC, is a subsidiary of Amazon, set up to deploy a broadband satellite internet
constellation with an announced 3,236 Low Earth orbit satellites to provide satellite based Internet
connectivity.[81][82][83]

Lab126
Main article: Amazon Lab126
Lab126, developers of integrated consumer electronics such as the Kindle, became a subsidiary in
2004.[84]

Ring
Main article: Ring Inc.
Ring is a home automation company founded by Jamie Siminoff in 2013. It is primarily known for its
WiFi powered smart doorbells, but manufactures other devices such as security cameras. Amazon
bought Ring for US$1 billion in 2018.[85]

Shelfari
Shelfari was a social cataloging website for books. Shelfari users built virtual bookshelves of the
titles which they owned or had read and they could rate, review, tag and discuss their books. Users
could also create groups that other members could join, create discussions and talk about books, or
other topics. Recommendations could be sent to friends on the site for what books to read. Amazon
bought the company in August 2008.[76] Shelfari continued to function as an independent book social
network within the Amazon until January 2016, when Amazon announced that it would be merging
Shelfari with Goodreads and closing down Shelfari.[86][87]

Souq
Main article: Souq.com
Souq.com is the largest E-Commerce platform in the Middle East based in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. On March 28, 2017, Amazon confirmed it would be acquiring Souq.com for $580 million.[88]

Twitch
Main article: Twitch (service)
Twitch at the Electronic Entertainment Expo

Twitch is a live streaming platform for video, primarily oriented towards video gaming content. The
service was first established as a spin-off of a general-interest streaming service known as Justin.tv.
Its prominence was eclipsed by that of Twitch, and Justin.tv was eventually shut down by its parent
company in August 2014 in order to focus exclusively on Twitch.[89] Later that month, Twitch was
acquired by Amazon for $970 million.[90] Through Twitch, Amazon also owns Curse, Inc., an operator
of video gaming communities and a provider of VoIP services for gaming.[91] Since the acquisition,
Twitch began to sell games directly through the platform,[92] and began offering special features for
Amazon Prime subscribers.[93]
The site's rapid growth had been boosted primarily by the prominence of major esports competitions
on the service, leading GameSpot senior esports editor Rod Breslau to have described the service
as "the ESPN of esports".[94] As of 2015, the service had over 1.5 million broadcasters and
100 million monthly viewers.[95]
On August 10, 2020, Amazon announced the rebranding of Twitch Prime, the live-streaming site,
renaming it Prime Gaming Prime Gaming in another attempt to crack the video game market after
failing a big-budget game effort. With Twitch Prime, users will be given a free subscription to Twitch,
with free games from small studios and discounts for larger titles like Grand Theft Auto and League
of Legends.[96]
On November 2, 2020, Twitch announced a virtual flagship conference and named it GlitchCon
instead of TwitchCon to be held on November 14. The main aim of the conference will be to bring its
numerous, disparate communities of streamers and fans together where they can be real life
confidants.[97]

Whole Foods Market

Whole Foods Market store in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Whole Foods Market is an American supermarket chain exclusively featuring foods without artificial

preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners, and hydrogenated fats.[98]
On August 23, 2017, it was reported that the Federal Trade Commission approved the merger
between Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market.[99] The following day it was announced that the deal
would be closed on August 28, 2017.[100]

Supply chain
Amazon first launched its distribution network in 1997 with two fulfillment centers in Seattle and New
Castle, Delaware. Amazon has several types of distribution facilities consisting of crossdock centers,
fulfillment centers, sortation centers, delivery stations, Prime now hubs, and Prime air hubs. There
are 75 fulfillment centers and 25 sortation centers with over 125,000 employees.[101][102] Employees are
responsible for five basic tasks: unpacking and inspecting incoming goods; placing goods in storage
and recording their location; picking goods from their computer recorded locations to make up an
individual shipment; sorting and packing orders; and shipping. A computer that records the location
of goods and maps out routes for pickers plays a key role: employees carry hand-held computers
which communicate with the central computer and monitor their rate of progress. Some warehouses
are partially automated with systems built by Amazon Robotics.

Amazon.fr fulfillment center in Lauwin-Planque, France

 

Amazon.es fulfillment center in San Fernando de Henares, Spain

 

Amazon.co.uk fulfillment center in Glenrothes, Scotland, UK

 

Amazon.de fulfillment center in Graben, Germany

 
 

Amazon.co.jp fulfillment center in Ichikawa, Japan

 

Amazon fulfillment center in Macon, Georgia, U.S.

Website
amazon.com

Logo since 2000

show
Screenshot

Type of site E-commerce

Arabic
Available in
Chinese

Dutch

English

French

German

Italian

Japanese

Polish
 Portuguese

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Owner Amazon

URL amazon.com (original U.S. site)

Commercial Yes

Registration Optional

Launched 1995; 26 years ago

Current status Active

Written in C++ and Java

[103]

The domain amazon.com attracted at least 615 million visitors annually by 2008;[104] by the beginning

of 2016, over 130 million customers were visiting the U.S. website each month.[105] The company has
invested heavily in a massive amount of server capacity for its website, especially to handle the
excessive traffic during the Christmas holiday season.[106] According to Alexa
Internet rankings, amazon.com is the third most popular website in the United States and the 14th
most popular website worldwide.
Results generated by Amazon's search engine are partly determined by promotional fees.[107] The
company's localized storefronts, which differ in selection and prices, are differentiated by top-level
domain and country code:

Region Country Domain name Since

Brazil amazon.com.br December 2012

Canada amazon.ca June 2002

America
s
amazon.com.m
Mexico August 2013
x

United States amazon.com July 1995

Asia China amazon.cn September 2004

 India amazon.in June 2013

Japan amazon.co.jp November 2000

Singapore amazon.sg July 2017

Turkey amazon.com.tr September 2018

United Arab
Emirates
amazon.ae May 2019

Saudi Arabia amazon.sa June 2020

France amazon.fr August 2000

Germany amazon.de October 1998

Italy amazon.it November 2010

Netherlands amazon.nl November 2014

Europe
Poland amazon.pl March 2021

Spain amazon.es September 2011

Sweden amazon.se October 2020

United Kingdom amazon.co.uk October 1998

 Oceania Australia amazon.com.au November 2017

Reviews
See also: Criticism of Amazon §  Amazon reviews
Amazon allows users to submit reviews to the web page of each product. Reviewers must rate the
product on a rating scale from one to five stars. Amazon provides a badging option for reviewers
which indicate the real name of the reviewer (based on confirmation of a credit card account) or
which indicate that the reviewer is one of the top reviewers by popularity. As of December 16, 2020
Amazon removed the ability of sellers and customers to comment on product reviews and purged
their websites of all posted product review comments. In an email to sellers Amazon gave its
rationale for removing this feature: "... the comments feature on customer reviews was rarely used."
The remaining review response options are to indicate whether the reader finds the review helpful or
to report that it violates Amazon policies (abuse). If a review is given enough "helpful" hits, it appears
on the front page of the product. In 2010, Amazon was reported as being the largest single source of
Internet consumer reviews.[108]
When publishers asked Bezos why Amazon would publish negative reviews, he defended the
practice by claiming that Amazon.com was "taking a different approach ... we want to make every
book available—the good, the bad and the ugly ... to let truth loose".[109]
There have been cases of positive reviews being written and posted by public relations companies
on behalf of their clients[110] and instances of writers using pseudonyms to leave negative reviews of
their rivals' works.

Content search
"Search Inside the Book" is a feature which allows customers to search for keywords in the full text
of many books in the catalog.[111][112] The feature started with 120,000 titles (or 33 million pages of text)
on October 23, 2003.[113]

Third-party sellers
Amazon derives many of its sales (around 40% in 2008) from third-party sellers who sell products on
Amazon.[114] Associates receive a commission for referring customers to Amazon by placing links to
Amazon on their websites if the referral results in a sale. Worldwide, Amazon has "over 900,000
members" in its affiliate programs.[115] In the middle of 2014, the Amazon Affiliate Program is used by
1.2% of all websites and it is the second most popular advertising network after Google Ads.[116] It is
frequently used by websites and non-profits to provide a way for supporters to earn them a
commission.[117]
Associates can access the Amazon catalog directly on their websites by using the Amazon Web
Services (AWS) XML service. A new affiliate product, aStore, allows Associates to embed a subset
of Amazon products within another website, or linked to another website. In June 2010, Amazon
Seller Product Suggestions was launched (rumored to be internally called "Project Genesis") to
provide more transparency to sellers by recommending specific products to third-party sellers to sell
on Amazon. Products suggested are based on customers' browsing history.[118] In 2019, Amazon
launched a bigger local online store in Singapore to expand its product selection in the face of
intensifying competition with competitors in the region.[119]
In July 2019 the 3rd U.S. City Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled that Amazon can be held
accountable for faulty third-party sales.[120] The decision ran counter to a past lower court ruling that
had favored Amazon. Heather Oberdorf had sued the company in 2016 over a dog leash that
snapped, causing permanent loss of vision in one eye. If upheld, the decision would expose Amazon
and similar platform businesses to strict liability lawsuits for defective products, which represents a
major change in the law.[121] The panel sent the case back to the lower court, to decide whether the
leash was actually defective.[122]

Amazon sales rank

The Amazon sales rank (ASR) provides an indication of the popularity of a product sold on any
Amazon locale. It is a relative indicator of popularity that is updated hourly. Effectively, it is a "best
sellers list" for the millions of products stocked by Amazon.[123] While the ASR has no direct effect on
the sales of a product, it is used by Amazon to determine which products to include in its bestsellers
lists.[123] Products that appear in these lists enjoy additional exposure on the Amazon website and this
may lead to an increase in sales. In particular, products that experience large jumps (up or down) in
their sales ranks may be included within Amazon's lists of "movers and shakers"; such a listing
provides additional exposure that might lead to an increase in sales.[124] For competitive reasons,
Amazon does not release actual sales figures to the public. However, Amazon has now begun to
release point of sale data via the Nielsen BookScan service to verified authors.[125] While the ASR has
been the source of much speculation by publishers, manufacturers, and marketers, Amazon itself
does not release the details of its sales rank calculation algorithm. Some companies have analyzed
Amazon sales data to generate sales estimates based on the ASR,[126] though Amazon states:
Please keep in mind that our sales rank figures are simply meant to be a guide of general interest for
the customer and not definitive sales information for publishers—we assume you have this
information regularly from your distribution sources

— Amazon.com Help[127]

Multi-level sales strategy

Amazon employs a multi-level e-commerce strategy. Amazon started by focusing on business-to-
consumer relationships between itself and its customers and business-to-business relationships
between itself and its suppliers and then moved to facilitate customer-to-customer with the Amazon
marketplace which acts as an intermediary to facilitate transactions. The company lets anyone sell
nearly anything using its platform. In addition to an affiliate program that lets anyone post Amazon
links and earn a commission on click-through sales, there is now a program which lets those
affiliates build entire websites based on Amazon's platform.[128]
Some other large e-commerce sellers use Amazon to sell their products in addition to selling them
through their own websites. The sales are processed through Amazon.com and end up at individual
sellers for processing and order fulfillment and Amazon leases space for these retailers. Small
sellers of used and new goods go to Amazon Marketplace to offer goods at a fixed price.[129]
In November 2015, Amazon opened a physical Amazon Books store in University Village in Seattle.
The store is 5,500 square feet and prices for all products match those on its website.[130] Amazon will
open its tenth physical book store in 2017;[131] media speculation suggests Amazon plans to
eventually roll out 300 to 400 bookstores around the country.[130]
In June 2018, it was reported that Amazon planned to open brick and mortar bookstores in
Germany.[132]
In September 2020, Amazon launched Luxury Stores on its mobile app, where Oscar de la
Renta become the first and only label to partner with the firm.[133]

Finances
Amazon.com is primarily a retail site with a sales revenue model; Amazon takes a small percentage
of the sale price of each item that is sold through its website while also allowing companies to
advertise their products by paying to be listed as featured products.[134] As of 2018, Amazon.com is
ranked 8th on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[135]
For the fiscal year 2018, Amazon reported earnings of US$10.07 billion, with an annual revenue of
US$232.887 billion, an increase of 30.9% over the previous fiscal cycle. Since 2007 sales increased
from 14.835 billion to 232.887 billion, thanks to continued business expansion.[136]
Amazon's market capitalization went over US$1 trillion again in early February 2020 after the
announcement of the fourth quarter 2019 results.[137] Amazon's total employees now number
798,000.[137]

Net income Total

Revenue
Year in mil. Assets Employees
in mil. USD$
USD$ in mil. USD$

2007[138] 14,835 476 6,485 17,000

2008[139] 19,166 645 8,314 20,700

2009[140] 24,509 902 13,813 24,300

2010[141] 34,204 1,152 18,797 33,700

2011[142] 48,077 631 25,278 56,200

2012[143] 61,093 −39 32,555 88,400

2013[144] 74,452 274 40,159 117,300

2014[145] 88,988 −241 54,505 154,100

2015[146] 107,006 596 64,747 230,800

2016[147] 135,987 2,371 83,402 341,400

2017[148] 177,866 3,033 131,310 566,000

 2018[149] 232,887 10,073 162,648 647,500

2019[150] 280,522 11,588 225,248 798,000

2020[151] 386,064 21,331 321,195 1,298,000

Controversies
It has been suggested that sections about criticism of Amazon
be split out and merged into the article titled Criticism of Amazon, which
already exists. (Discuss) (January 2021)
Main article: Criticism of Amazon
Since its founding, the company has attracted criticism and controversy for its actions, including:
supplying law enforcement with facial recognition surveillance tools;[152] forming cloud computing
partnerships with the CIA;[153] leading customers away from bookshops;[154] adversely impacting the
environment;[155] placing a low priority on warehouse conditions for workers; actively opposing
unionization efforts;[156] remotely deleting content purchased by Amazon Kindle users; taking public
subsidies; seeking to patent its 1-Click technology; engaging in anti-competitive actions and price
discrimination;[30][31] and reclassifying LGBT books as adult content.[157][158] Criticism has also concerned
various decisions over whether to censor or publish content such as the WikiLeaks website, works
containing libel and material facilitating dogfight, cockfight, or pedophile activities. In December
2011, Amazon faced a backlash from small businesses for running a one-day deal to promote its
new Price Check app. Shoppers who used the app to check prices in a brick-and-mortar store were
offered a 5% discount to purchase the same item from Amazon.[159] Companies
like Groupon, eBay and Taap.it countered Amazon's promotion by offering $10 off from their
products.[160][161]
The company has also faced accusations of putting undue pressure on suppliers to maintain and
extend its profitability. One effort to squeeze the most vulnerable book publishers was known within
the company as the Gazelle Project, after Bezos suggested, according to Brad Stone, "that Amazon
should approach these small publishers the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle."[107] In July
2014, the Federal Trade Commission launched a lawsuit against the company alleging it was
promoting in-app purchases to children, which were being transacted without parental consent.[162] In
2019, Amazon banned selling skin-lightening and racist products that might affect the consumer's
health.[163]

Environmental impact
In 2018, Amazon emitted 44.4 million metric tons of CO
2.[164]

In September 2019, Amazon workers organized a walk-out as part of the Global Climate Strike.[165]
[166]
 An internal group called Amazon Employees for Climate Justice said over 1,800 employees in 25
cities and 14 countries committed to participating in the action to protest Amazon's environmental
impact and inaction to climate change.[165] This group of workers petitioned Jeff Bezos and Amazon
with three specific demands: to stop donating to politicians and lobbyists that deny climate change,
to stop working with fossil fuel companies to accelerate oil and gas extraction, and to achieve
zero carbon emissions by 2030.[167][166]
Amazon has introduced the Shipment Zero program, however Shipment Zero has only committed to
reducing 50% of its shipments to net zero by 2030. Also, even that 50% does not necessarily mean
a decrease in emissions compared to current levels given Amazon's rate of growth in orders.[168]
That said, Amazon's CEO has also signed the Climate Pledge, in which Amazon would meet the
Paris climate agreement goals 10 years ahead of schedule, and would be carbon-neutral by 2040.
Besides this pledge, it also ordered 100 000 electric delivery trucks from Rivian.[169]
Amazon funds both climate denial groups including the Competitive Enterprise Institute and
politicians denying climate change including Jim Inhofe.[170][171]
In November 2018, a community action group opposed the construction permit delivered
to Goodman Group for the construction of a 160,000 square metres (1,700,000 sq ft) logisitics
platform Amazon will operate at Lyon–Saint-Exupéry Airport. In February 2019, Étienne Tête filed a
request on behalf of a second regional community action group asking the administrative court to
decide whether the platform served a sufficiently important public interest to justify its environmental
impact. Construction has been suspended while these matters are decided.[155]
Amazon considered making an option for Prime customers to have packages delivered at the most
efficient and environmentally-friendly time (allowing the company to combine shipments with the
same destination) but decided against it out of fear customers might reduce purchases.[172] Since
2019, the company has instead offered customers an "Amazon Day" option, where all orders are
delivered on the same day, emphasizing customer convenience, and it occasionally offers Prime
customers credits in return for selecting slower and less expensive shipping options.[172]

Selling counterfeit, unsafe and discarded items

The selling of counterfeit products by Amazon has attracted widespread notice, with both purchases
marked as being fulfilled by third parties and those shipped directly from Amazon warehouses being
found to be counterfeit. This has included some products sold directly by Amazon itself and marked
as "ships from and sold by Amazon.com".[173] Counterfeit charging cables sold on Amazon as
purported Apple products have been found to be a fire hazard.[174][175] Such counterfeits have included
a wide array of products, from big ticket items to every day items such as tweezers, gloves,[176] and
umbrellas.[177] More recently, this has spread to Amazon's newer grocery services.[178] Counterfeiting
was reported to be especially a problem for artists and small businesses whose products were being
rapidly copied for sale on the site.[179]
One Amazon business practice that encourages counterfeiting is that, by default, seller accounts on
Amazon are set to use "commingled inventory". With this practice, the goods that a seller sends to
Amazon are mixed with those of the producer of the product and with those of all other sellers that
supply what is supposed to be the same product.[180]
In June 2019, Buzzfeed reported that some products identified on the site as "Amazon's choice"
were low quality, had a history of customer complaints, and exhibited evidence of product review
manipulation.[181]
In August 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported that they had found more than 4,000 items for sale
on Amazon's site that had been declared unsafe by federal agencies, had misleading labels, or had
been banned by federal regulators.[182]
In the wake of the WSJ investigation, three U.S. senators – Richard Blumenthal, Ed Markey,
and Bob Menendez – sent an open letter to Jeff Bezos demanding him to take action about the
selling of unsafe items on the site. The letter said that "Unquestionably, Amazon is falling short of its
commitment to keeping safe those consumers who use its massive platform."[183] The letter included a
number of questions about the company's practices and gave Bezos a deadline to respond by
September 29, 2019, saying "We call on you to immediately remove from the platform all the
problematic products examined in the recent WSJ report; explain how you are going about this
process; conduct a sweeping internal investigation of your enforcement and consumer safety
policies; and institute changes that will continue to keep unsafe products off your platform."[183] Earlier
in the same month, senators Blumenthal and Menendez had sent Bezos a letter about
the Buzzfeed report.[183]
In December 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported that some people were literally retrieving trash
out of dumpsters and selling it as new products on Amazon. The reporters ran an experiment and
determined that it was easy for a seller to set up an account and sell cleaned up junk as new
products. In addition to trash, sellers were obtaining inventory from clearance bins, thrift stores, and
pawn shops.[184][185]
In August 2020, an appeals court in California ruled that Amazon can be held liable for unsafe
products sold on its website. A California woman had bought a replacement laptop battery that
caught fire and caused her to receive third-degree burns.[186]

Tax avoidance
Main article: Amazon tax
Amazon's tax affairs were investigated in China, Germany, Poland, South Korea, France, Japan,
Ireland, Singapore, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, United States and Portugal.
[187]
 According to a report released by Fair Tax Mark in 2019, Amazon is the worst offender of tax
avoidance, having paid an 12% effective tax rate between 2010-2018, in contrast with 35%
corporate tax rate in the US during the same period. Amazon countered that it had an 24% effective
tax rate during the same period.[188]

Comments by Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders

In early 2018, President Donald Trump repeatedly criticized Amazon's use of the United States
Postal Service and its prices for the delivery of packages, stating, "I am right about Amazon costing
the United States Post Office massive amounts of money for being their Delivery Boy," Trump
tweeted. "Amazon should pay these costs (plus) and not have them bourne [sic] by the American
Taxpayer."[189] Amazon's shares fell by 6 percent as a result of Trump's comments. Shepard
Smith of Fox News disputed Trump's claims and pointed to evidence that the USPS was offering
below-market prices to all customers with no advantage to Amazon. However, analyst Tom Forte
pointed to the fact that Amazon's payments to the USPS are not made public and that their contract
has a reputation for being "a sweetheart deal".[190][191]
Throughout the summer of 2018, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders criticized Amazon's wages and
working conditions in a series of YouTube videos and media appearances. He also pointed to the
fact that Amazon had paid no federal income tax in the previous year.[192] Sanders solicited stories
from Amazon warehouse workers who felt exploited by the company.[193] One such story, by James
Bloodworth, described the environment as akin to "a low-security prison" and stated that the
company's culture used an Orwellian newspeak.[194] These reports cited a finding by New Food
Economy that one third of fulfilment center workers in Arizona were on the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP).[195] Responses by Amazon included incentives for employees to tweet
positive stories and a statement which called the salary figures used by Sanders "inaccurate and
misleading". The statement also charged that it was inappropriate for him to refer to SNAP as "food
stamps".[193] On September 5, 2018, Sanders along with Ro Khanna introduced the Stop Bad
Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (Stop BEZOS) Act aimed at Amazon and other alleged
beneficiaries of corporate welfare such as Walmart, McDonald's and Uber.[196] Among the bill's
supporters were Tucker Carlson of Fox News and Matt Taibbi who criticized himself and other
journalists for not covering Amazon's contribution to wealth inequality earlier.[197][198]
On October 2, 2018, Amazon announced that its minimum wage for all American employees would
be raised to $15 per hour. Sanders congratulated the company for making this decision.[199]

Opposition to trade unions

Main article: Amazon worker organization

A sticker expressing an anti-Amazon message is pictured on the back of a street sign in Seattle.

Amazon has opposed efforts by trade unions to organize in both the United States and the United
Kingdom. In 2001, 850 employees in Seattle were laid off by Amazon.com after a unionization drive.
The Washington Alliance of Technological Workers (WashTech) accused the company of violating
union laws, and claimed Amazon managers subjected them to intimidation and heavy propaganda.
Amazon denied any link between the unionization effort and layoffs.[200] Also in 2001, Amazon.co.uk
hired a US management consultancy organization, The Burke Group, to assist in defeating a
campaign by the Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU, now part of Unite the Union) to achieve
recognition in the Milton Keynes distribution depot. It was alleged that the company victimized or
sacked four union members during the 2001 recognition drive and held a series of captive meetings
with employees.[201]
An Amazon training video that was leaked in 2018 stated "We are not anti-union, but we are not
neutral either. We do not believe unions are in the best interest of our customers or shareholders or
most importantly, our associates."[202] Two years later, it was found that Whole Foods was using a
heat map to track which stores had the highest levels of pro-union sentiment. Factors including racial
diversity, proximity to other unions, poverty levels in the surrounding community and calls to
the National Labor Relations Board were named as contributors to "unionization risk".[203]
In early 2020, an Amazon internal documents were leaked, it said that Whole Foods has been using
an interactive heat map to monitor its 510 locations across the U.S. and assign each store a
unionization risk score based on such criteria as employee loyalty, turnover rate and racial diversity.
Data collected in the heat map suggest that stores with low racial and ethnic diversity, especially
those located in poor communities, are more likely to unionize.[204][205]
National Labor Relations Board determined that Amazon illegally fired two employees in retaliation
for efforts to organize workers.[206] In April 2021, after a majority of workers in Bessemer, Alabama
voted against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, the union asked for a
hearing with the NLRB to determine whether the company created "an atmosphere of confusion,
coercion and/or fear of reprisals" ahead of the union vote.[207]

Working conditions
Former employees, current employees, the media, and politicians have criticized Amazon for poor
working conditions at the company.[208][209][210] In 2011, it was publicized that workers had to carry out
tasks in 100 °F (38 °C) heat at the Breinigsville, Pennsylvania warehouse. As a result of these
inhumane conditions, employees became extremely uncomfortable and suffered from dehydration
and collapse. Loading-bay doors were not opened to allow in fresh air because of concerns over
theft.[211] Amazon's initial response was to pay for an ambulance to sit outside on call to cart away
overheated employees.[211] The company eventually installed air conditioning at the warehouse.[212]
Some workers, "pickers", who travel the building with a trolley and a handheld scanner "picking"
customer orders, can walk up to 15 miles (24 km) during their workday and if they fall behind on their
targets, they can be reprimanded. The handheld scanners give real-time information to the
employee on how quickly or slowly they are working; the scanners also serve to allow Team Leads
and Area Managers to track the specific locations of employees and how much "idle time" they gain
when not working.[213][214]
In a German television report broadcast in February 2013, journalists Diana Löbl and Peter Onneken
conducted a covert investigation at the distribution center of Amazon in the town of Bad Hersfeld in
the German state of Hessen. The report highlights the behavior of some of the security guards,
themselves being employed by a third-party company, who apparently either had a neo-
Nazi background or deliberately dressed in neo-Nazi apparel and who were intimidating foreign and
temporary female workers at its distribution centers. The third-party security company involved was
delisted by Amazon as a business contact shortly after that report.[215][216][217][218]
In March 2015, it was reported in The Verge that Amazon would be removing non-compete
clauses of 18 months in length from its US employment contracts for hourly-paid workers, after
criticism that it was acting unreasonably in preventing such employees from finding other work. Even
short-term temporary workers have to sign contracts that prohibit them from working at any company
where they would "directly or indirectly" support any good or service that competes with those they
helped support at Amazon, for 18 months after leaving Amazon, even if they are fired or made
redundant.[219][220]
A 2015 front-page article in The New York Times profiled several former Amazon employees[221] who
together described a "bruising" workplace culture in which workers with illness or other personal
crises were pushed out or unfairly evaluated.[16] Bezos responded by writing a Sunday memo to
employees,[222] in which he disputed the Times's account of "shockingly callous management
practices" that he said would never be tolerated at the company.[16]
In an effort to boost employee morale, on November 2, 2015, Amazon announced that it would be
extending six weeks of paid leave for new mothers and fathers. This change includes birth parents
and adoptive parents and can be applied in conjunction with existing maternity leave and medical
leave for new mothers.[223]
In mid-2018, investigations by journalists and media outlets such as The Guardian reported poor
working conditions at Amazon's fulfillment centers.[224][225] Later in 2018, another article exposed poor
working conditions for Amazon's delivery drivers.[226]
In response to criticism that Amazon does not pay its workers a livable wage, Jeff Bezos announced
beginning November 1, 2018, all US and UK Amazon employees will earn a $15 an hour minimum
wage.[227] Amazon will also lobby to make $15 an hour the federal minimum wage.[228] At the same
time, Amazon also eliminated stock awards and bonuses for hourly employees.[229]
On Black Friday 2018, Amazon warehouse workers in several European countries, including Italy,
Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, went on strike to protest inhumane working conditions and
low pay.[230]
The Daily Beast reported in March 2019 that emergency services responded to 189 calls from 46
Amazon warehouses in 17 states between the years 2013 and 2018, all relating to suicidal
employees. The workers attributed their mental breakdowns to employer-imposed social isolation,
aggressive surveillance, and the hurried and dangerous working conditions at these fulfillment
centers. One former employee told The Daily Beast "It's this isolating colony of hell where people
having breakdowns is a regular occurrence."[231]
On July 15, 2019, during the onset of Amazon's Prime Day sale event, Amazon employees working
in the United States and Germany went on strike in protest of unfair wages and poor working
conditions.[232][233]
In March 2020, during the coronavirus outbreak when the government instructed companies to
restrict social contact, Amazon's UK staff was forced to work overtime to meet the demand spiked by
the disease. A GMB spokesperson said the company had put "profit before safety".[234] GMB has
continued to raise concerns regarding "gruelling conditions, unrealistic productivity targets,
surveillance, bogus self-employment and a refusal to recognise or engage with unions unless
forced", calling for the UK government and safety regulators to take action to address these issues.
[235]

In August 2019, BBC reported on Amazon's Twitter ambassadors. Their constant support for and

defense of Amazon and its practices have led many Twitter users to suspect that they are in
fact bots, being used to dismiss the issues effecting Amazon workers.[236]
In its 2020 statement to its US shareholders, Amazon stated that "we respect and support the Core
Conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the ILO Declaration on Fundamental
Principles and Rights at Work, and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights".
Operation of these Global Human Rights Principles has been "long-held at Amazon, and codifying
them demonstrates our support for fundamental human rights and the dignity of workers everywhere
we operate".[237]
On November 27, 2020, Amnesty International said, workers in working for Amazon have faced
great health and safety risks since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Black Friday, one of
Amazon's busiest periods, company failed to ensure the key safety features in France, Poland,
the United Kingdom and USA. Workers have been risking their health and lives to ensure essential
goods are delivered to consumer doorsteps, helping Amazon achieve record profits.[238]
On January 6, 2021, Amazon said that it is planning to build 20,000 affordable houses by spending
$2 billion in the regions where the major employments are located.[239]
On January 24, 2021, Amazon said that it was planning to open a pop-up clinic hosted in partnership
with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in Seattle in order to vaccinate 2,000 persons against
COVID-19 on the first day.[240]
In February 2021, Amazon said that it was planning to put cameras in its delivery vehicles. Although
many drivers were upset of this decision, Amazon said that the videos were only be sent in certain
circumstances.[241]
Drivers have alleged they sometimes have to urinate and defecate in their vans as a result of
pressure to meet quotas. This was denied in a tweet from the official Amazon News account saying:
"You don't really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for
us." Amazon employees subsequently leaked an email to The Intercept[242] showing the company was
aware its drivers were doing so. The email said: "This evening, an associate discovered human
feces in an Amazon bag that was returned to station by a driver. This is the 3rd occasion in the last 2
months when bags have been returned to station with poop inside."[243] Amazon acknowledged the
issue publicly after denying it at first.[244]
In May 2021, Amazon said that in 2021 its workforce in the UK will become 55.000 since it will
create 10.000 new jobs.[245]

Conflict of interest with the CIA and DOD

In 2013, Amazon secured a US$600 million contract with the CIA, which poses a potential conflict of
interest involving the Bezos-owned The Washington Post and his newspaper's coverage of the CIA.
[246]
 Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said, "It's a serious potential
conflict of interest for a major newspaper like The Washington Post to have a contractual
relationship with the government and the most secret part of the government."[247] This was later
followed by a US$10 billion contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.[153]

Seattle head tax and houselessness services

In May 2018, Amazon threatened the Seattle City Council over an employee head tax proposal that
would have funded houselessness services and low-income housing. The tax would have cost
Amazon about $800 per employee, or 0.7% of their average salary.[248] In retaliation, Amazon paused
construction on a new building, threatened to limit further investment in the city, and funded a repeal
campaign. Although originally passed, the measure was soon repealed after an expensive repeal
campaign spearheaded by Amazon.[249]

Nashville Operations Center of Excellence

The incentives given by the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County to Amazon for
their new Operations Center of Excellence in Nashville Yards, a site owned by developer Southwest
Value Partners, have been controversial, including the decision by the Tennessee Department of
Economic and Community Development to keep the full extent of the agreement secret.[250] The
incentives include "$102 million in combined grants and tax credits for a scaled-down Amazon office
building" as well as "a $65 million cash grant for capital expenditures" in exchange for the creation of
5,000 jobs over seven years.[250]
The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government called for more transparency.[250] Another local
organization known as the People's Alliance for Transit, Housing, and Employment (PATHE)
suggested no public money should be given to Amazon; instead, it should be spent on building more
public housing for the working poor and the homeless and investing in more public transportation for
Nashvillians.[251] Others suggested incentives to big corporations do not improve the local economy.
[252]

In November 2018, the proposal to give Amazon $15 million in incentives was criticized by the
Nashville Firefighters Union and the Nashville chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police,[253] who called
it "corporate welfare."[254] In February 2019, another $15.2 million in infrastructure was approved by
the council, although it was voted down by three council members, including Councilwoman Angie
Henderson who dismissed it as "cronyism".[255]

Facial recognition technology and law enforcement

While Amazon has publicly opposed secret government surveillance, as revealed by Freedom of
Information Act requests it has supplied facial recognition support to law enforcement in the form of
the Rekognition technology and consulting services. Initial testing included the city of Orlando,
Florida, and Washington County, Oregon. Amazon offered to connect Washington County with other
Amazon government customers interested in Rekognition and a body camera manufacturer. These
ventures are opposed by a coalition of civil rights groups with concern that they could lead to an
expansion of surveillance and be prone to abuse. Specifically, it could automate the identification
and tracking of anyone, particularly in the context of potential police body camera integration.[152][256]
[257]
 Because of the backlash, the city of Orlando publicly stated it will no longer use the technology,
but may revisit this decision at a later date.[258]

Access to NHS data

The UK government awarded Amazon a contract that gives the company free access to information
about healthcare published by the UK's National Health Service.[259] This will, for example, be used by
Amazon's Alexa to answer medical questions, although Alexa also uses many other sources of
information. The material, which excludes patient data, could also allow the company to make,
advertise and sell its own products. The contract allows Amazon access to information on
symptoms, causes and definitions of conditions, and "all related copyrightable content and data and
other materials". Amazon can then create "new products, applications, cloud-based services and/or
distributed software", which the NHS will not benefit from financially. The company can also share
the information with third parties. The government said that allowing Alexa devices to offer expert
health advice to users will reduce pressure on doctors and pharmacists.[260]

Collection of data and surveillance

On February 17, 2020, a Panorama documentary highlighted the amount of data collected by the
company and the move into surveillance causing concerns of politicians and regulators in the US
and Europe.[261][262]

Antitrust complaints
On June 11, 2020, the European Union announced that it will be pressing charges against Amazon
over its treatment of third-party e-commerce sellers.[263]
In July 2020, Amazon along with other tech giants Apple, Google and Facebook were accused of
maintaining harmful power and anti-competitive strategies to quash potential competitors in the
market.[264] The CEOs of respective firms appeared in a teleconference on July 29, 2020 before the
lawmakers of the U.S. House Antitrust Subcommittee.[265] In October 2020, the antitrust
subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives released a report accusing Amazon of abusing
a monopoly position in ecommerce to unfairly compete with sellers on its own platform.[266]

Anti-vaccination and non-scientific cancer 'cures'

Anti-vaccination and non evidence-based cancer 'cures' have routinely appeared high in Amazon's
books and videos. This may be due to positive reviews posted by supporters of untested methods,
or gaming of the algorithms by truther communities, rather than any intent on Amazon's part.[267][268]
Wired magazine found that Amazon Prime Video was full of 'pseudoscientific documentaries laden
with conspiracy theories and pointing viewers towards unproven treatments'.[269]
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) expressed concern that Amazon was “surfacing and recommending
products and content that discourage parents from vaccinating their children.” Amazon subsequently
removed five anti-vaccination documentaries.[270] Amazon also removed 12 books that unscientifically
claimed bleach could cure conditions including malaria and childhood autism. This followed an NBC
News report about parents who used it in a misguided attempt to reverse their children's autism.[271].