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Amazon Warns Associates May Lose Accounts and Earnings Over Coronavirus Coverage
After logging into my Amazon associates account today, I was greeted with a stark message from Amazon regarding COVID-19 content. The associate alert or coronavirus warning read as follows below:
“As a reminder, we ask all of our associates to exercise good judgement when covering COVID-19 and refer readers to the CDC website for accurate information. For more information, see the FTC’s guidance around Coronavirus claims. As a reminder advertising with unsubstantiated claims is a violation of law and a violation of the Operating Agreement and may result in account closure, including withholding fees.“
Amazon warns of two potential actions:
- Account Closure = The potential loss of all income and livelihood, which could be interpreted as the institution of “Excessive Fines”.
- Withholding Fee’s = The withholding of earned income, which could be interpreted as “cruel and unusual punishment” and perhaps even a threat of extortion.
There are at least 900,000 Amazon Associates according to Amazon’s own claims in 2008. There are hundreds of thousands of websites affected by this alert definitively, causing massive censorship on the coronavirus topic. – GeniusLink
Arguably, Amazon has the second largest influence over more content than anyone on the internet, largely due to their economic impact and outright megalithic size.
This move by Amazon is potentially the largest recent act of censorship. Amazon has influence over hundreds of thousands of websites if not millions and potentially millions of associates. Amazon is second only to Google Adsense publishers which range around the 2 million mark. Google and YouTube has also banned coronavirus advertising, but recently rolled both ad platforms restrictions back.
This news from Amazon is one more example of Big Tech’s outlook on free speech. It doesn’t exist. By no means does Amazon have to let associates into their platform if they do not agree with their content, but, they use the term “violation of law” and presumably aim to use these laws as justification for closing accounts and withholding fee’s.
What Are Unsubstantiated Claims?
Unsubstantiated claims in advertising usually refers to things like “puffery” going too far. Unsubstantiated is when a statement becomes deceitful or outright false.
This is a serious legal debacle that Amazon has now put it’s associates in. Also, many if not most of Amazon Associates have zero clue as to what these implications might mean legally, and so they will simply be silenced and they will begin to self-censor. Especially because the coronavirus is a new virus and we are learning more about it everyday, what is true and what is not changes by the day. Using the coronavirus to censor individuals speech is becoming a very common tactic by larger tech firms instituting their vision or ideology on the general public.
Many doctors have made “scientific” claims that go against governments coronavirus guidelines. Many medical organizations have done the same. They have been censored. US law supports protest and promotes democratic argumentation. I mean, our courts are centered around a jury trial for any criminal wrongdoing. Our elections are based upon a multi-party debate and vote. Big Tech however is far from democratic in nature and it’s becoming more and more apparent every day.
This type of threat, from Amazon, is basically a threat to violate your rights under the 8th amendment regarding “excessive fines” or “cruel and unusual punishment” however brought down by a corporation instead of a government.
How U.S. Law Defines “Unsubstantiated”
The United States Federal Trade Commission addresses this in Title 16 Part 255 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and gives several examples. A few examples are taken from the legal text below:
“…bloggers concerning the need to ensure that statements they make are truthful and substantiated.” – Example 5, § 255.1 (d)
“…the advertiser must possess and rely upon adequate substantiation, including, when appropriate, competent and reliable scientific evidence…” – § 255.2 (a)
An Example Of Unsubstantiated Claims
A 2018 settlement with the FTC and The Nobetes Corporation (a dietary supplement company) the FTC simply published their investigations findings with rulings simply banning the company from engaging in future advertising making false medical claims… The FTC as quoted, “FTC’s complaint bans the defendants from advertising or selling Nobetes or any other diabetes product. It prohibits them from making health-related claims….” In other words, there is no real jail time or punishment handed out for violating these laws. Often there aren’t even any fines, like in the case above.
Many Other Countries Have Similar Laws, Like New Zealand.
New Zealand addresses puffery directly in law as, “a representation that a reasonable person would not expect to be substantiated.” The problem is defining what a regular person considers “reasonable”. And so in 2013, the New Zealand parliament has passed law defining what must be substantiated.
Amazon Warns Associates To Stay In Line With CDC and FTC
Amazon stated clearly to all associates to, “exercise good judgement when covering COVID-19“.
What exactly does “when covering COVID-19” mean? It seems as though they are referring to any reporting on the pandemic. News organizations, blogs, commentators and other organizations who “cover” current events.
After considering Amazon’s intent in the alert, I couldn’t possibly imagine how this language from Amazon could be anything close to what the FTC is concerned about. The FTC is concerned with products, that being whether retail companies, “have their products been approved, cleared, or authorized by the FDA“. The FTC doesn’t want people selling snake oil. This would make sense if Amazon warned associates not to advertise their products as possible remedies or cures for COVID-19. But, that’s not what the alert says.
The alert from Amazon referred associates to the FTC’s guidance, and the CDC website (but actually is the CDC’s coronavirus index). These two government agencies are not the only federal agencies giving out coronavirus guidance by far, nearly every federal agency is, due to President Trump’s “whole government” approach to the pandemic.
The FTC warns about companies offering products that are not approved by the FDA, etc.. The FTC is worried about medical and scientific claims made regarding products and services. Most all publishers who review products and retailers are very familiar with these regulations. Again, Amazon does not mention retailers or the sale of any products. Amazon seems to be joining the bandwagon of online platforms banning speech and aiming their alert at reporters and bloggers alike.
Amazon Joins Twitter And Youtube With Policy Chipping Away At Free Speech
We have seen nearly every single social media platform remove content that is not aligned with the World Health Organization or the scientist in chief “Dr. Fouci”, who recently switched sides on the stay-at-home order (now stating that the lock-down can cause “irrepairable damage“. The CDC also has put out several guidelines that it has walked back. This is of course a normal thing, as we learn more about this pandemic, we as a society update our approach, update regulations, guidelines, etc…
Isn’t it possible that a reporter could stumble upon a new truth about COVID-19? Especially, since reporters are the largest source of investigating facts in our society?
Why would amazon be concerned about the content of a blog or news website that is not aligned with government? It is not illegal to disagree with government is it? We as a people are the government of the United States. Our laws are formed through collective political action through voting. The next regulation is only a single vote away. It seems as though these platforms, Amazon alike, are more concerned with setting their own regulations, which are de facto law’s due to the platforms stranglehold on access to information.
If we take to these draconian social policies from Twitter, Youtube and now Amazon, how could government ever adapt, overcome and change for the better? Someone has to disagree with the current state of affairs to present a new idea, right? Or am I missing something here.
It has long been warned through several alternative news outlets, pundits and dissenters alike that the American government was heeding to the Big Tech oligarchies of our time. It seems as though that fear is now a truth that is spreading into our economy, business, social life, etc.. and moving beyond just the self-governing of social media posts.
Amazon Needs To Clarify COVID-19 Alert
Is Amazon worried about snake oil salesmen, or are they aiming at yet another stance on free speech? This alert from Amazon is very unclear and it is extremely worrisome at the least.
We have seen other financial platforms like PayPal ban people from accessing their technology due to ideas they disagree with, Alex Jones for example (Paypal acted against what they called hate promotion)… Banning individuals from access to financial tools and basic economic freedoms to buy and sell is a steep cliff the United States surely was not founded on.
We have also seen Amazon ban books that they disagree with in the past, like Dr. Joseph Nicolosi’s book, “A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality.”, which aims to, “help people who have unwanted same-sex sexual attractions deal with those feelings“. A controversial topic, yes, but banned? When Amazon still sells Mein Kampf, Hitlers manifesto (as reported by the New York Times as recent as this March, of 2020.
Youtube CEO Admits Censorship Of Content Opposing World Health Organization
In an interview with Brian Stelter of CNN, Susan Wojcicki, came to the forefront of free speech censorship admitting that she would remove “any content containing medical advice that contradicts World Health Organisation (WHO) coronavirus recommendations“
Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos owes its hundreds of thousands of associates a public clarification of this alert and guidance. It is not enough to merely send out an ambiguous alert to the Amazon Associate dashboard. Many Americans and citizens of the world in general, rely heavily on Amazon affiliate sales to support their families and often times run entire businesses focused around the Amazon platform.
Jeopardizing the livelihood of an individual due to a disagreement in perception or ideological framework is not what America stands for and developing nations around the world are still seeking the American Dream, no matter how muddy the waters have become.
If this was about snake oil salesmen, Amazon wouldn’t even have to send out an alert. We all know what it means to lie and be deceitful. This is about changing the ideological framework and shifting the authorities of general public discord.
Forget scholarship and government, Big Tech is your daddy now.
SOURCES
- https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/home
- https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2020/03/ftc-fda-warn-companies-making-coronavirus-claims
- https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
- https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=67d4c0cf-36b3-4534-a830-3e94c4a6260b
- https://www.dmlp.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/FTC%20Guides%20Official.pdf
- https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2018/12/nobetes-dietary-supplement-marketers-settle-ftc-complaint
- https://www.foxnews.com/health/fauci-says-extended-stay-home-orders-could-cause-irreparable-damage
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/09/21/paypal-bans-alex-jones-saying-infowars-promoted-hate-or-discriminatory-intolerance/
- https://thefederalist.com/2019/07/15/amazon-bans-books-sex-attraction-not-nazi-propaganda/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/technology/amazon-hitler-mein-kampf.html
- https://youtu.be/4JsnKursVpU
- https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/amazon-removes-controversial-books-father-conversion-therapy-n1026446
- https://geniuslink.com/blog/just-big-amazon-associates-program/
- https://marketingland.com/google-celebrates-10-years-of-adsense-48695
- https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/30/youtube-censorship-of-doctors-bucking-covid-19-cra/
- https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/eighth_amendment
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