by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Oct 24 – There is a lot of talk these days about censorship and book banning. Here is one example, from Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing on the evening of October 24 to Inner City Press:
"We have terminated your KDP account because you submitted offensive content, which violates our content Guidelines, in the book(s) listed below.
Maximum Maxwell: The Narrow Prosecution: From UN Collusion to Five Guilty Verdicts, Impunity on Trial- external_id:46769426
American Ugly: Kevin Spacey Beats the Rapp: But Dark Secrets Made Public in SDNY Live- external_id:52331181
As part of the account termination process:
• You can no longer access your KDP Account, Bookshelf, or Reports.
• We have removed your published books from the Amazon Store.
• You are not eligible to receive any outstanding royalties.
• You are not allowed to open a new KDP account.
If you have any questions or believe your account was terminated in error, please reply to this email."
All of these books report what was said in court. Inner City Press did immediately respond - and was told to wait until next week. But KDP did not wait before taking down and disappearing books about the United Nations (Belt and Roadkill), the Sudan genocide and BNP Paribas, Sam Bankman-Fried, Eric Adams, Rudy Giuliani, Blake Livery, Tekashi #6ix9ine and Kay Flock and more.
Amazon / KDP's decision, without any any, resulted in the books, even used, disappearing from Barnes & Noble and elsewhere.
Inner City Press is going elsewhere with its book about US v. Peraire-Bueno, Crypto Bros.
But isn't this censorship? Isn't this, quite literally, book banning? To be continued.
***
Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.
Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
