Dirty Dozen List 2021 - Amazon

The Problem

Amazon, the world’s titan of e-commerce, logistics, data storage, and media, also peddles endless amounts of sexual exploitation. As a social media platform, Amazon’s Twitch is rife with sexual harassment, predatory grooming, and child sexual abuse. As an online retailer, Amazon is in the business of selling incest-themed porn, sex dolls, photography books with eroticized child nudity, pornographic magazines, and more. As a media creator, Amazon Prime Video inserts unnecessary, gratuitous nudity and simulated sex scenes into much of its original programming, while providing faulty parental controls. Amazon S3 and Amazon Web Services are also host to thousands of hardcore violent pornography and prostitution websites.

There is no doubt that Amazon is one of the most powerful companies in the world, not only influencing global economic markets, but also greatly influencing the goods we buy, the media we consume, and businesses small and large. Many maintain that the elite “FANG,” the major four tech companies Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google, are dominating the world. As for Amazon’s part in this, its net sales revenue topped $135 billion in 2016. Forty-four percent of web shoppers go directly to Amazon for product searches. As a bookstore, Amazon has an estimated 3.4 million books for sale and over twenty-five million people use Amazon Instant Video and with their creation of original content, this is growing quickly.

While we applaud Amazon for 2020 improvements of removing full-body and childlike sex dolls and for finally rolling out parental controls for Prime Video, it continues to be an online marketplace rife with sexual exploitation.

 

Read the joint letter from Congress to Amazon Web Services: “Stop Providing Cloud Services to OnlyFans!”

We request the following improvements:

Prime Video Parental Controls

While Amazon rolled out major improvements for safety in Prime Video in 2020, we request Amazon address some of these remaining concerns:

  • These features do not work if you are accessing Prime Video from Xbox.
  • Kids can just move from profile to profile without a pin. (This was the same problem Netflix had and fixed thanks to our advocacy in 2020.) The only way around this is to have the strictest age restrictions on all profiles until Amazon fixes this. 
  • If you have downloaded mature rated content on any of your devices to watch when you’re not connected, it will be available to all profiles (read: to kids) no matter your settings.
  • Ironically, none of these features when set at the account owner level will work on Amazon’s own Fire TV, Fire Tablet, or Fire phone. Users will have to manually set parental controls for each of these systems separately, which is just redundant and complicated for already overburdened caregivers. (Here’s how for Fire Tablet, for Fire TV, for Fire Phone.) 

Amazon Studios & Prime Video

  • Stop making films with gratuitous amounts of nudity and sexual violence. Unfortunately, a sample survey of third-party reviews of Amazon Prime original content shows that 66% of it contains nudity, 82% of which is female, and 36% of the surveyed Amazon Prime original shows contain simulated sex.

Amazon’s Twitch

  • Develop and implement lockable parental controls, so parents can monitor and streamline their child’s experience on Twitch and ensure basic safety is being met.
  • Develop more robust age-gating features to protect children on Twitch, including filtering and blocking streams with mature game ratings and/or themes.
  • Ban minor-aged accounts from sending or receiving money through Twitch’s donation and bits feature.
  • Disable the Whisper feature on minor-aged accounts.
  • Automatically default minor-aged accounts to the highest level of safety and privacy available on the Twitch platform.
  • Require, not suggest, that streamers provide mature content warnings on their channel if they broadcast content intended for adults.
  • Provide education to all users and parents on the potential harms and risks associated with exploitation and abuse on Twitch, and feature prominent reporting processes on all forms of Twitch’s interface.
  • Create and feature PSAs about safety on the Twitch platform.

Prime (Online Retailer)

  • Stop selling sexual exploitation and abuse. It’s unacceptable that you are selling sex trafficking how-to books, disembodied sex dolls, photography books with “eroticized” child nudity, incest- and racist-themed written pornography, pornographic magazines and DVD’s, and misogynistic clothing items, and more.
  • Better ensure that items are categorized correctly so that sexually explicit content is not showing up in general, innocent searches.

Kindle & Publisher

  • Reject books with themes sexualizing and normalizing incest, racism, sex with children and teens, and extreme sexual violence.
  • Ensure “adult” books are actually tagged as “adult” and prohibited from surfacing in general search results as your policy seems to indicate should be happening.

Amazon Web Services

  • Refuse to host websites that facilitate the purchase of human beings for sex and abuse

WARNING: The pornographic images taken from Amazon have been blurred, but are still suggestive. There is also graphic text descriptions shown in these sections.
POSSIBLE TRIGGER.

Proof

Incest-Themed Written Pornography

Incest-Themed Written Pornography

WARNING: The pornographic images taken from Amazon have been blurred, but are still suggestive. There is also graphic text descriptions shown in these sections. POSSIBLE TRIGGER.

While Amazon took strict measures to rid this popular e-book device of hardcore pornography and explicit erotica in previous years , thousands of self-published pornographic books are for sale and even included for free in the monthly subscription service KindleUnlimited. Searches by NCOSE yielded dozens of these books included in completely unrelated categories, and included themes of incest, child and teen, and rape. A search conducted by NCOSE of “Teen Books” yielded both e-books for toddler, as well as hardcore porn. Unfortunately, a 12-year-old girl did this same search.

Due to the graphic nature of the descriptions & images found in this proof, we've compiled them into a PDF document that you can download here.

Amazon Prime Video & Original Content

Amazon Prime Video & Original Content

** We applaud Amazon's move in 2020 to finally implement parental control options for Prime Video. Learn about these much needed improvements and some of the remaining problems on our blog here. **

Amazon’s status as a sales and television giant is no secret, but what is less obvious is the complacency with which it treats video content and ratings.

Amazon Prime Video, a service offering unlimited television streaming to members, brings these shows directly into millions of American homes every day, many of them produced by Amazon itself. Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos recently reported that Prime now has over 100 million subscribers. Unfortunately, Amazon often produces original programming portraying gratuitous nudity, graphic sexual acts, and even graphic depictions of sexual assault. Many of Amazon’s most popular and most heavily-advertised original shows are rated TV-MA (mature audiences only) frequently containing graphic sex scenes, nudity, and violence. Amazon contributes to a culture of toxic sexual pressure in the media industry by producing content that requires actors to do nude scenes.

Unfortunately, a sample survey of third-party reviews of Amazon Prime original content shows that 66% of it contains nudity, 82% of which is female, and 36% of the surveyed Amazon Prime original shows contain simulated sex.

In the age of #MeToo and the rising problems of male sexual entitlement to women’s bodies, producing such material is socially irresponsible.

We are calling on Amazon Studios to improve its parental controls so that they are more easily visible and accessible for parents and to consider policies to produce less sexually objectifying content.

While streaming can often provide hours of quality family entertainment, a recent analysis by NCOSE's team of 115 third-party reviews by Common Sense Media of TV shows exclusively owned by Amazon indicated that Amazon Studios has several problems:

Extensive Objectification and Exploitation of Women in Original Content

Though Amazon original content shows employ diverse themes, span through time and space, and explore various genres, they seem to have one common denominator—nudity. Amazon is clearly no stranger to the economic benefits of nudity in media, which they have included in 66% of their original series. That’s right, according to third-party reviews, two out of every three Amazon original series will at some point display nudity. What perhaps is most striking in this statistic is the blatant sexism that the referenced objectification follows. An astronomical 87% of cases incorporated female nudity, whereas male nudity was found in only 13%. This is a common trend in pornographic material, as objectification often disproportionately targets women.

Ambiguous Ratings

The second observation made clear in Amazon-exclusive content was the complacent ambiguity with which Amazon treats its rating system.

Amazon patterns ratings for their shows after the TV Organization TV Parental Guides to create four rating categories—General, Family, Teen, and Mature. With the use of these categories, however, comes a crucial omission. TV Organization TV Parental Guides include content labels to warn parents of what may be included in the show. Recall the little black box in the corner of the screen of TV shows—a rating is posted, and underneath letters indicating content (for example, D for suggestive dialogue, V for violence, and S for sexual situations).

Amazon does not provide adequate content warnings. Not only this, but they provide no information whatsoever on their site regarding reasons for ratings. This means that a TV-MA series could feature anything from “crude or indecent language” to “explicit sexual activity”, but which of these actually exists on the show remains a mystery.

In other words, a parent approving a series for a teenage child will have no indication as to whether said child will be exposed to “indecent language” or a full-blown sex scene complete with extensive nudity.

The only option for parents in such a predicament would be to visit separate sites such as Common Sense Media to read reviews written by other parents; however, much of Amazon’s exclusive content cannot be found on such sites.

A sampling of Amazon Prime content that includes graphic sexual content:

  • When Night Is Falling originally received an NC-17 rating for its graphic sex scenes
  • Obsession (2015) has an unrated, sexually graphic version streaming on Amazon Prime
  • Bound (2015) is on Amazon Prime and often described as softcore porn by reviewers
  • The Handmaiden (2016) is on Amazon Prime and is unrated though the sex scenes would have required a NC-17 rating at minimum.
  • The Case of Unfaithful Klara (2009)
  • Come Undone (2010)
  • Extase (2009)

Plans to Expand Graphic Sexual Content

In 2017, Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos mandated a programming shift at Amazon Studios: Bring me “Game of Thrones.”

They have moved towards just that. Amazon increasingly inserts gratuitous scenes of nudity and sexual violence in their Amazon Original content (and has a long trend of recommending those pieces right next to kids’ content).

Amazon might also be gearing up to hypersexualize the fantasy world of one of the 20th century’s most popular books among children and adults alike—with over 150 million copies sold in more than 35 languagesJ. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy seriesThe Lord of the Rings. 

Amazon Studios has issued casting calls for actors who “must be comfortable with nudity.” Furthermore, Amazon Studios has hired an “intimacy coordinator, a job described by SAG-AFTRA as “an advocate, a liaison between actors and production … in regard to nudity and simulated sex.” On top of all that, Amazon Studios has also brought on a consulting producer, Bryan Cogman, who formerly served as writer for HBO’s Game of Thrones where he helped develop some of the most grotesque rape and incest scenes in the series. 

More information here.

Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services

Amazon's Acceptable Use Policy essentially prohibits pornography as it says "obscene" material is not allowed and almost all mainstream pornography fits the definition of obscenity (which is illegal, but those laws are not enforced). However, it does little to enforce this policy, especially when it comes to websites hosting non-consensually recorded and/or shared intimate acts.

Offensive Content. Content that is defamatory, obscene, abusive, invasive of privacy, or otherwise objectionable, including content that constitutes child pornography, relates to bestiality, or depicts non-consensual sex acts.

Amazon is host to prostitution website OnlyFans. 

Article: Why is Amazon.com Hosting Pornographic Websites?

MoveOn Petition: Andy Jassy & Amazon: Stop Hosting Child Pornography

Amazon refused to host right-wing social media platform Parler after riots at the U.S. Capitol, but allows websites hosting hate speech against women, sexual violence and torture, sexualized incest and racism, and which sell women for sex.

Child Nudity & Sex Trafficking Books

Child Nudity & Sex Trafficking Books

WARNING: The pornographic images taken from Amazon have been blurred, but are still suggestive. There is also graphic text descriptions shown in these sections. POSSIBLE TRIGGER.

Amazon.com is selling books featuring collections of Jock Sturges, Sally Mann, and David Hamilton photography.

These publications contain numerous images that many, including experts on child sexual exploitation, consider akin to child pornography, or at the minimum, content that eroticizes children.

These same publications are replete with pictures of nude prepubescent and adolescent children—many of which display their pubic areas or genitals. These are not images reminiscent of a family photo album of children at bath time but are haunting displays of provocative child nudity.

While these publications (and films) are widely available and have been in circulation for many years, such material is unfit for sale by any reputable retailer. Retailers like Amazon should strive to prevent the dissemination of material that gratifies perverse sexual interest in children, not cater to it.

Last year, Walmart.com was also selling Jock Sturges publications, but upon receiving a letter on the matter from us, took swift action and removed his books from their online store within 24 hours - you can thank Walmart for removing these publications here.

We ask that Amazon act responsibly and do the same.

Due to the graphic nature of the descriptions & images found in this proof, we've compiled them into a PDF document that you can download here.

Pornography

Pornography

WARNING: The pornographic images taken from Amazon have been blurred, but are still suggestive. There is also graphic text descriptions shown in these sections. POSSIBLE TRIGGER.

Due to the graphic nature of the descriptions & images found in this proof, we've compiled them into a PDF document that you can download here.

Sex Dolls

Sex Dolls

WARNING: The pornographic images taken from Amazon have been blurred, but are still suggestive. There is also graphic text descriptions shown in these sections. POSSIBLE TRIGGER.

After years of pressure from NCOSE's army of advocates and from Congress with the 2018 House-passed and then 2020 reintroduced Creeper Act, Amazon seems to have finally caved and removed all full-body and childlike sex dolls from their marketplace.

Searches in September 2020 still returned what seemed like thousands of full-body sex dolls on Amazon Marketplace. However, after mounting pressure, NCOSE researchers have discovered in January 2021, that only disembodied sex dolls remain. These are dolls with only the torso and thighs.

While these are still highly problematic, continuing to reduce women to only their intimate parts, this is a step forward.

Half body or torso-only sex dolls still sold by Amazon in Jan 2021

Due to the graphic nature of the descriptions & images found in this proof, we've compiled them into a PDF document that you can download here.

Customer Stories

Customer Stories

WARNING: The pornographic images taken from Amazon have been blurred, but are still suggestive. There is also graphic text descriptions shown in these sections. POSSIBLE TRIGGER.

Due to the graphic nature of the descriptions & images found in this proof, we've compiled them into a PDF document that you can download here.

Sexualized Racism

Sexualized Racism

WARNING: The pornographic images taken from Amazon have been blurred, but are still suggestive. There is also graphic text descriptions shown in these sections. POSSIBLE TRIGGER.

Due to the graphic nature of the descriptions & images found in this proof, we've compiled them into a PDF document that you can download here.

Progress

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