The Director of Libraries from Israel’s Holocaust memorial museum, Yad Vashem, reportedly sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos accusing the company of spreading hate speech and propaganda.
In the letter, obtained by The Jerusalem Post, Dr. Robert Rozett asks Amazon to remove books that claim the events of the Holocaust were exaggerated or fabricated.
The letter comes two weeks after a report from The Times of London found dozens of books for sale on Amazon denying facts about the persecution of Jews during World War Two. Following that report, Amazon removed many of the books in countries where Holocaust denial is illegal, like France, Italy, and Germany.
It’s not the first time Yad Vashem has broached the subject with Amazon, according to The Jerusalem Post, but recent surges of antisemitism reportedly inspired the latest attempt to get the literature removed.
“Open discussion of ideas is certainly essential to pluralistic and democratic systems, but facilitating the spread of such hate-filled ideas is irresponsible, to say the least,” Rozett wrote. “As a major agent for the dissemination of ideas, it is incumbent upon Amazon, as it is also incumbent upon Internet providers in general, to act to curb the spread of hatred.”
Other big tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter, have already started cracking down on hate speech and fabricated content.
GeekWire reached out to Amazon for comment. We’ll update this story when we hear back.
