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26 Jan, 10 tweets, 4 min read
.@Facebook, @Twitter & @YouTube amplified conspiracy theories, violent rhetoric & disinformation for years and are now the focus of efforts to deplatform this content.

Yet @Amazon's role in the spread of extremist ideology has been widely overlooked 👇
2/ In a 2020 report on Amazon’s self-publishing platform, @AvaKofman, @frnsys, and @moiragweigel investigated how the site’s recommendation paths for popular right-wing texts led readers to titles written by extremists. propublica.org/article/the-ha…
3/ The ideas presented in these books may come from the fringes, but their availability on Amazon’s vast online bookstore grants them a wide audience.
4/ The availability of these books on Amazon isn’t an accident but a consequence of business strategy. Interviews with former employees suggest the retailer’s drive for market share & its aversion to gatekeepers has incubated an anything-goes approach to content.
5/ While some social networks & other publishing platforms have worked to ban extremists, Amazon’s store has emerged as a safe space, a haven from which they can spread their message into mainstream American culture with just a few clicks.
6/ In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said, “As a bookseller, we believe that providing access to the written word is important.... That includes books that some may find objectionable, though we have policies governing which books can be listed for sale.”
7/ “We invest significant time and resources to ensure our guidelines are followed, and remove products that do not adhere to our guidelines,” continued the statement. “We also promptly investigate any book when a concern is raised.”
8/ Amazon declined to share information about the number of books it’s taken down, its internal policies or how it enforces them.
9/ Read the full @ProPublica investigation into how extremists exploit Amazon’s self-publishing platform here:
propublica.org/article/the-ha…
10/ And sign up here to make sure you get all of our new top stories as they publish:
propublica.org/newsletters/th…

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23 Jan
Chokeholds have been prohibited by NYPD since 1993.
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The invasion of the U.S. Capitol was discussed for weeks in plain sight.

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