Amazon Gets a Beating for Deranking 'Adult' Books

Amazon Gets a Beating for Deranking 'Adult' Books

Amazon’s move to remove gay and lesbian book titles reckoned as “adult” from its sales ranking system sparked criticisms from several groups.  Although it doesn’t mean the books are not auctioned in the popular online shopping website, potential buyers would not see the titles on public sales ranking or in the best-seller lists, thus reducing the possibility of being bought. 
 

Amazon claims the move was just a slip-up but no further explanation was released.  Amazon spokesperson Patty Smith said, "Essentially, there's a glitch in our system and it's being fixed.”

 

Deranking titles suggesting adult contents may prove to be a justifiable policy for a website that generates huge traffic each day. However, this kind of policy is construed as a clear discrimination against gays, lesbians and other transgendered individuals. A petition was filed against Amazon’s step which already gained 4,000 signatures.