Amazon is Helping Xi Jinping Sell Books — The World Should Pay Attention
The authoritarian leader has made demands and Amazon is complying.
Everyone who has written or tried to sell a book since the dawn of Amazon knows the importance of reviews. Good buyer feedback can help propel a book by an unknown author who self-published a new book to the top of the world’s leading digital e-commerce marketplace. According to a report from USA Today, Amazon reviews have become their own industry. Apparently, Xi JinPing also knew it too. The Times UK recently reported that Amazon was removing all reviews from the Chinese president’s recent book The Governance of China. Specifically, any feedback with less than five stars was removed.
Authoritarian leaders being overly sensitive to criticism is far from new. We all remember 2014 when North Korea declared the release of Seth Rogen and James Franco’s film comedy The Interview an “act of war” implemented by the Obama administration to undermine the rule of Kim Jong-un. A spokesman for the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that “If the United States administration tacitly approves or supports the release of this film, we will take a decisive and merciless countermeasure.”
Despite these strong words, all the dictator’s reaction did was compel more…
