Just recently, we reported that Amazon had removed several manga and light novel titles from publishers Yen Press, Dark Horse Comics, and J-Novel Club from its site without warning, alarming publishers and readers alike. However, Amazon’s sudden purge of titles continues with it’s newest victim: FAKKU. As reported from FAKKU’s official Twitter account, their titles have also been removed from the site without prior notice or explanation.
https://twitter.com/FAKKU/status/1284657709879488513
While the post acknowledges that FAKKU’s titles are adult-oriented in nature, the fact that their titles have been removed from the site at all is incredibly odd, seeing as they were available for purchase on Amazon’s platform long before their existence on the site became an issue, as were all of the previous titles.
While Amazon did give Yen Press the explanation that their content “did not fall within their global content guidelines”, Amazon’s general content guidelines for books are fairly broad in nature, though they do have a separate category for topics that are considered offensive and/or controversial.
And that category is fairly broad as well, as it only covers categories of violence, intolerance, hate, human tragedies, natural disasters, child abuse, and exploitation. Specific examples are provided for each category, but none of the titles that have been removed from Amazon fall under those categories, as they would have never been sold to begin with if they did. Amazon does make note that they are able to remove content from the site at their discretion, which seems to be the main reason for all of these removals at this time.
As Amazon continues to be the center of e-commerce, especially during current events, the loss of revenue for everyone involved in the creation of these titles is devastating. Whether or not this sudden purging of titles will become a larger issue for both the industry and publisher’s relationships with Amazon is yet to be seen. In the meantime, anyone looking to support the affected publishers can order titles from J-List.
Image via: FAKKU’s Official Twitter
