Amazon is best known as a sprawling online marketplace where almost anything can be bought and sold and where almost anyone including far right groups can try and make money.
The company has faced criticism for its bookstores recommendation system, which has promoted titles that share vaccine disinformation and conspiracy theories as well as allowing white supremacist publishers to directly sell on the site.But Amazon also offers another way to make money an affiliate program that lets websites point potential shoppers to Amazon-listed products and earn referral fees if those shoppers buy anything.
Websites listing current bestsellers for instance might provide Amazon affiliate tagged links to those books in the companys book store.The ABC found several websites based in the United States and Australia that share hateful material targeting immigrants and trans people as well as climate change and election disinformation also promoting links to the Amazon bookstore that appeared to use the company affiliate program tag .The ABC is choosing not to name the sites to avoid amplifying their content.
The books promoted by the websites covered a variety of topics including a so called exposé of climate science a discussion of political nihilism and an adventure book about manhood.Claire Atkin co founder of the advertising watchdog Check My Ads Institute, said for a company of Amazon size its not just about the ads.When these websites tap into Amazon they are getting legitimacy by being an Amazon affiliate she said.The websites examined by the ABC all shared links to Amazon that included an individualised affiliate tag although it is unclear if the website owners still held active accounts. Likewise there is no definitive way to know how much these sites may have earned.
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