--- publish: true author: Prateek Waghre date: 2021-09-30 section: "03-" --- ## Content On 15th September a minor twitter storm erupted when someone noticed that Amazon's recommendations and autocomplete suggestions for canes included results for the described purpose of 'beating kids'. ![[Pasted image 20210930173642.png|300]] What I found interesting at the time was that at least some portion of the ire was directed at Amazon - since the 'recommendations' and 'suggestions' were considered a tacit endorsement of corporal punishment for minors. [![[Pasted image 20210930180825.png]]](https://twitter.com/prateekwaghre/status/1438059116723802117) While the issue didn't exactly explode into a PR crisis for Amazon, it did respond by seemingly blocking certain autocomplete suggestions. Much in the same way it had done for ivermectin results in last August, which I wrote about in [MisDisMal-Information 48](https://techpolicy.substack.com/p/of-moderation-stacked-and-loaded) as part of a broader section on content moderation through the stack. ![[Pasted image 20210930174518.png]] But here's the thing about such keyword-based fixes - they are typically fragile and short-lived. I poked around today and similar autocomplete results are back [^1] because guess what - people are probably still searching for these terms. *I don't think it is possible for Amazon to actively keep tabs on this* ![[Pasted image 20210930103443.png]] ![[Pasted image 20210930103606.png]] ![[Pasted image 20210930103630.png]] ![[Pasted image 20210930103748.png]] ![[Pasted image 20210930104037.png]] Looking back, it is worth contemplating if our outrage should have been limited to using this as a stick to beat Amazon with. Could we have gone a step further to look at the underlying social problem. Note : I am not actually saying that there should have no outrage at all, or that none of it should have been directed at Amazon. It is, after all, a form of expression that people are free to, well, express. ## Related Items 1. [Of 'Batter'ed by rage, Misinforming misinformation and fact-checking by the crowds - by Prateek Waghre - MisDisMal-Information (substack.com)](https://techpolicy.substack.com/p/of-battered-by-rage-misinforming) 2. [Outrage against the machine, digital communication networks, link rot - by Prateek Waghre - MisDisMal-Information (substack.com)](https://techpolicy.substack.com/p/outrage-against-the-machine-digital) 3. [Does Amazon know what it sells? - Benedict Evans](https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2021/5/5/does-amazon-know-what-it-sells) [^1]: Maybe they were never blocked to begin with. ## Colophon %% title:: Can(e) we repurpose outrage? type:: [[output]] tags:: url:: file:: %% status:: [[bean]] created:: 2021-09-30