Louis Rossmann, a popular YouTuber and well known right-to-repair advocate, says he has been punished by Amazon for sharing his opinion about the giant’s recent embarrassing decision to “reach into” a customer’s home and turn off his devices by disabling his Amazon account, based on what turned out to be a false accusation of racism.
But this episode of Amazon’s knee-jerk reaction doesn’t seem to have been a teaching moment, because now the corporation is accused of going after commentators as no doubt a damage-control measure – but one that also might backfire.
In Rossmann’s case, Amazon decided not to “approve” his Associates application, ostensibly for addressing the case that saw an Amazon delivery driver falsely accuse Brandon Jackson, who is black, of using his Amazon doorbell device to spew a racist slur. This is despite Rossmann already being a member of the program for years.
The driver filed a report and Amazon took his word for it, and in less than 24 hours all of Jackson’s smart devices were remotely shut down. Eventually, Amazon admitted to making a mistake – but now apparently, nobody is allowed to talk about it any longer.
In a new YouTube video, Rossmann explained that his right-to-repair online activism is rooted in his belief that people should have more sovereignty and control in various areas of technology – while big companies are pulling in the opposite direction.
And that is why the Amazon story attracted his attention.
Rossmann added that his (logical) advice was not to put products that are so restrictive to their nominal owner in your home.
He further noted that Amazon did go public, and on big traditional media, to, long story short, admit the error – but then after this, Rossmann received an email informing him that his 7.5-year status as an Amazon affiliate was not enough to save his Associates program membership.
The reason stated, Rossmann said, is that his application “does not qualify for Amazon Associates program.”
Unlike the swift way they erred on the side of making a mistake in the case of alleged racist abuse, it seems Amazon took many years to realize that Rossmann “doesn’t qualify.”
“I’m sorry, I really don’t get it,” Rossmann said at one point, referring to Amazon. “You canceled somebody’s account for no good reason, you made the news for it – and your response to it is to cancel somebody else’s account, for no good reason?”
