House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan revealed on X that the Biden administration coerced Amazon to remove or reduce the visibility of anti-vaccine books. Jordan brought to light several emails showing that the e-commerce giant gave in after "feeling pressure from the White House."
Never-before-released internal emails subpoenaed by @JudiciaryGOP reveal that the Biden White House pressured Amazon to censor books that expressed views the White House did not approve of.
“Is the [Biden] Admin asking us to remove books”? pic.twitter.com/ZsAN9BZAcX
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
Andy Slavitt, key official in White House censorship during the pandemic
In the emails, which the committee made public after their investigation into Biden administration censorship during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is observed that Andy Slavitt, the White House official who ordered Facebook to censor real information that clashed with the government's agenda, was directly responsible for pressuring Amazon. According to the information provided by Jordan, Slavitt began his campaign on March 2, 2021, demanding that the company put him in contact with someone to discuss "the high levels of propaganda and misinformation and disinformation of [sic] Amazon."
On March 2, 2021, Slavitt fired off an email demanding to know who he and his White House colleagues could talk to at the company about “the high levels of propaganda and misinformation and disinformation of [sic] Amazon?” pic.twitter.com/aWSMp3aSOc
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
Fear of being exposed to the public and conservative media
The system used to censor books was, according to some of the emails, to enter the word "vaccine" in the Amazon search engine and change the results that appeared to their liking. In one of the messages Slavitt went as far as to say that the search results were "concerning." On another occasion, he expressed regret that one of the posts did not include a CDC warning about its content.
Jordan also claimed that Amazon employees chose to avoid "manual" censorship for fear of being "too visible" to the American public and being discovered by conservative media, given the scandal that this would entail.
Initially, Amazon decided to hold off on “doing a manual intervention” to censor books.
Why? Not out of any commitment to free speech, but because doing so would be “too visible” to the American public and likely to spur criticism from conservative media. pic.twitter.com/166wXiPsha
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
Amazon 'banned' and 'buried' books
At one point, the company argued that as a retail company, its customers "are different" than social media users. Precisely because of that nature of retailers, "we provide our customers with access to a variety of points of view, including some books that some customers may find objectionable." This was something that Biden's entourage did not seem to like, as was conveyed to the company's representatives in the White House in an in-person conversation at the presidential complex. One of the key questions was whether the Biden administration "wanted books banned or just buried deep in the search results."
A week later, on March 9, 2021, Amazon met with the White House.
Internal Amazon documents reveal Amazon’s “top talking points” going into the meeting.
One of the key questions was whether the Biden White House wanted books banned or just buried deep in the search results: pic.twitter.com/wnWj9eCyJf
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
Amazon gives way
In the emails, Amazon staff indicate that they agreed to the meeting because they were "feeling pressure from the White House." Jordan shared that "starting March 9--the same day as its meeting with the White House--Amazon enabled 'Do Not Promote' for books that expressed the view that vaccines were not effective," in addition to pledging to look for other ways to "reduce visibility" of certain books that the Biden White House did not like.
After the White House spent a week berating Amazon, what did the online bookstore do?
Starting March 9—the same day as its meeting with the White House—Amazon enabled “Do Not Promote” for books that expressed the view that vaccines were not effective. pic.twitter.com/8YEXjAL8BD
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
