EBay Online Market Inc.
EBAY -2.31%
said it was working to prevent the resale of six Dr Seuss books pulled earlier this week by the company in charge of the late author’s works because they contained offensive images.
“EBay is currently sweeping our market to remove these items,” a company spokesman said in an email. New copies of the six books were no longer for sale online at major retailers such as Barnes & Noble on Thursday afternoon, which put eBay among the most important platforms for selling books.
Hundreds of offers for the six books were on the platform this morning Thursday, although apparently lower than Wednesday night. The eBay spokesman said it would take some time to review seller listings and that the company was monitoring newly published listings.
Retailers regularly make decisions to remove products from their platforms for various reasons. The move made by eBay comes at a time when, especially in conservative parts, there is concern about how large technology platforms decide what content is acceptable. At the same time, others claim that the platforms are not doing enough to police inappropriate content.
Dr Seuss Enterprises MP, who oversees Dr Seuss’s publishing interests and ancillary areas, said on Tuesday that they had decided that six of the famous author books – “And to think I saw it in Mulberry Street”; “If I run the zoo”; “McElligot’s Pool”; “On the other side of Zebra!”; “Stirred eggs super!” and ‘The Cat’s Quizzer’ – would no longer be published because they ‘portray people in a way that is hurtful and wrong.’
After the announcement, one woman said she mentions two titles, “On Beyond Zebra!” and ‘McElligot’s Pool’, on sale on Wednesday. Later that day, she said, she received an email from eBay explaining that “On Beyond Zebra!” was removed from the sale because it violated eBay’s “offensive material policy”. The second title was drawn Thursday morning, she said.
“Dr. Seuss Enterprises has stopped publishing this book due to the negative portrayal of some ethnicities,” reads the eBay email review, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “We have terminated your approval and refunded your sales charges, and as long as you do not rename the article, it will not have a negative impact on your account. “
Many controversial articles – including Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and “The Turner Diaries”, a novel popular among white supremacist groups – were available on eBay on Wednesday night. The spokesperson said upon inquiry that these two books would also fall into the category of “offensive material” and be removed. On Thursday afternoon, it appears that “The Turner Diaries” is no longer available on eBay.
As’ millions of transactions take place on our platform in more than 190 markets every day, we are constantly evaluating and improving to ensure that banned items remain outside eBay, ” the spokesman said.
The six Dr Seuss books that have not been finished are not one of the most famous works of the late author. Earlier this week, publisher Random House Books told young readers and several booksellers – including Barnes & Noble – that Dr Seuss’s best-known books would remain available to customers.
More than five million printed copies of Dr Seuss’ books were sold in the US last year, according to NPD BookScan data – led by “Oh, the places you go!” and ‘Green Eggs and Ham’, each selling hundreds of thousands. Of the books that have now been discontinued, ‘If I Ran the Zoo’ was the bestseller last year, selling about 7,000 copies.
Some copies of all six discontinued titles are still available for sale at third-party sellers on Amazon.com Inc.
An Amazon spokesman declined to comment.
Amazon faced questions from Republican senators last week after removing a book on transgender issues that had been on the platform for about three years. Amazon did not comment on the senators’ letter, but said it reserves the right to sell certain titles based on the content guidelines for books.
A spokesman for Encounter Books, which published ‘When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment’ by Conservative scholar Ryan T. Anderson, said on Thursday that the publisher had not yet received an explanation as to why the book had been removed. not. sale. Amazon referred to its earlier statement on Thursday.
“All retailers are making decisions about the choice they want to offer and we are not making decisions about the choice,” Amazon said in a statement last week.
Write to Jeffrey A.Trachtenberg by [email protected]
Copyright © 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8