Amazon blocks LGBT products in UAE, says it “must comply with local laws”

samanime

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What you must do is quit doing business there. Money speaks louder than words.
Exactly. You don't have to comply in places you don't work. Amazon pulling out of there would have sent a big and powerful message... but they didn't. They took the greedy approach.
 
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212 (237 / -25)

SixDegrees

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I'm pretty certain there are a lot of LGBT folks both living in Seattle and working at Amazon. Why are UAE citizens buying from such a company? Shouldn't the UAE be looking inward to figure out why there's not only a demand for products from such an apostate company, but for such specific products among its own populace?
 
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68 (78 / -10)
What you must do is quit doing business there. Money speaks louder than words.


But... the companies are just playing lip service to rake in the bucks.

Many brands change to pride colors on their logo/text etc but in the Arab countries it stays the same, bunch of hypocrites.
 
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57 (71 / -14)

Rindan

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Not shocking Amazon is complying; the only options are compliance or the door. Compliance carries no cost, while "the door" costs not just UAE business, but any other nation with similar policies. The only way to get Amazon to choose different is if "the door" is the cheaper option. A big enough boycott to matter might do the trick, but I don't see it happening.

Integrating UAE into the world economy was literally integrating a 12th centaury style religious monarchy into the world economy that also happens to be sitting on a repulsive amount of wealth in the form of oil. No one should be super surprised that they are acting exactly like what very openly are. You can't completely shut out the unsavory parts of the world and probably need to deal with nations that are morally repulsive, but I wish the free and democratic places the world were a little less enthusiastic about the integration.
 
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109 (115 / -6)

Rindan

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What you must do is quit doing business there. Money speaks louder than words.
Let's all stop supporting the petroleum industry so we aren't hypocrites either!

i.e. good luck with that.

Folks are down voting, but you are not wrong. If UAE wasn't sitting on top of a mountain of oil, Amazon might very well just shrug and pull out to spare themselves the negative PR. Instead, Amazon will bend to the UAE because it is wealthy enough that a small boycott from freer parts of the world isn't worse than the loss of UAE business. Dependency on oil is what drives wealth to these archaic nations that would otherwise be poor and destitute due to the depths of the mismanagement of their human resources. The UAE is a nation that starts by immediately limiting half of it's population into being nothing but care givers no matter what their other talents and interest, and then gets worse from there.
 
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96 (104 / -8)
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Frodo Douchebaggins

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So anyone insisting Amazon stop doing business with the UAE willing to stop using Amazon if they don't? Put your money where your mouth is!


I'm fucking trying! My expenditures there have dropped dramatically over the last year or so.

As for the UAE, I won't even stop in Dubai for a layover, for a variety of reasons. I don't want any of my ticket to support them via airport fees, I don't want to have to buy food there, and I don't want to get arrested for stepping on something and accidentally tracking poppy seeds into their dystopian hellscape.
 
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66 (70 / -4)
I'm pretty certain there are a lot of LGBT folks both living in Seattle and working at Amazon. Why are UAE citizens buying from such a company? Shouldn't the UAE be looking inward to figure out why there's not only a demand for products from such an apostate company, but for such specific products among its own populace?
Similar reasons why we often do business with companies that we criticize/disagree with? Wide selection, easy ordering, quick delivery, good prices?
 
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31 (31 / 0)

otterbox

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What you must do is quit doing business there. Money speaks louder than words.
Let's all stop supporting the petroleum industry so we aren't hypocrites either!

i.e. good luck with that.

"Let's all stop supporting the petroleum industry so we aren't hypocrites either!"

I assume that means within the UAE. If so, why would it be downvoted?
 
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-17 (2 / -19)
D

Deleted member 221201

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What you must do is quit doing business there. Money speaks louder than words.
Let's all stop supporting the petroleum industry so we aren't hypocrites either!

i.e. good luck with that.
This is such a dumb position and it's been made fun of so many times I really don't get how grown adults still use it as an argument.

Serious question - when Amazon say they 'must comply with local laws', what happens if they don't?

They will stop supplying fuel for Blue Origin rockets
 
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-3 (4 / -7)

Frodo Douchebaggins

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As an American company, do they intend to abide by the American Taliban's soon to be enacted laws? No need to answer.


This really highlights the difference between the USA and countries like UAE, doesn't it?


In the USA, Amazon can make a stand against unjust laws without fear of government retaliation (unless you consider members the government mobilizing their followers to boycott "government retaliation"). In the USA, businesses can be economically mobile enough to move headquarters from offending states. In the USA, it's expected that they speak out against injustice. In the USA, they're free from the threat of violence for doing so.


Just keep that in mind when you use terms like "American Taliban"
 
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-16 (30 / -46)

Navalia Vigilate

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So anyone insisting Amazon stop doing business with the UAE willing to stop using Amazon if they don't? Put your money where your mouth is!
I use Amazon in multiple ways that do not profit Amazon.

  • Search for products and get vendor names, then I try to either buy direct or use their preferred online vendor which surprise, often does not default to Amazon.

    Search for product ideas, such as when I found a trailer hitch that extends far behind the truck and has a U bar above with padding. Enables carrying kayaks from the bed of the truck and I used the idea to search for vendors that I purchased directly from.

If Amazon will not stop supporting slavery, I will make Amazon my slave.
 
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9 (22 / -13)

Edgar Allan Esquire

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What you must do is quit doing business there. Money speaks louder than words.
Let's all stop supporting the petroleum industry so we aren't hypocrites either!

i.e. good luck with that.
This is such a dumb position and it's been made fun of so many times I really don't get how grown adults still use it as an argument.

Serious question - when Amazon say they 'must comply with local laws', what happens if they don't?
It actually doesn't say what the penalties would be, but I'd assume they'd have to have some physical presence in either property or labor there that could be targeted. I also wouldn't be surprised if pressure was made to turn over user data over such product purchases so Amazon might spin it in internal appeasement as "protecting lgbt+ customers" by making it so there's no search results/purchases for them to give.
 
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10 (11 / -1)
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Sasparilla

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As an American company, do they intend to abide by the American Taliban's soon to be enacted laws? No need to answer.

Have the House and Senate go back into red hands this fall, with a red president in 2024. If the Dems didn't already kick the filibuster to the curb for a short term abortion law, the GOP probably would to enact a nationwide ban on abortions as their 1st act of the new president and classify things like Plan B as part of that. Have the law require Google, Amazon etc. to report searches, purchases and messaging related to the new laws (mentioning abortion) along with the users identity - with the current supreme court supporting them (to protect the person whose life starts at fertilization). Seems quite plausible to me. Having the GOP take the House and Senate this fall is assumed in political circles at the moment.
 
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3 (19 / -16)

Frodo Douchebaggins

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So anyone insisting Amazon stop doing business with the UAE willing to stop using Amazon if they don't? Put your money where your mouth is!


I'm fucking trying! My expenditures there have dropped dramatically over the last year or so.

As for the UAE, I won't even stop in Dubai for a layover, for a variety of reasons. I don't want any of my ticket to support them via airport fees, I don't want to have to buy food there, and I don't want to get arrested for stepping on something and accidentally tracking poppy seeds into their dystopian hellscape.

I'm curious if you have travelled to any other country outside the U.S

Many, including having lived outside of the US for over a decade.
 
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29 (30 / -1)
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DEATH penalty for homosexuality? What a backwards-ass country. And an embarrassment (for us) that they're not on the OFAC list.


You can do *absolutely anything you want to any group of people* as long as you sell us oil.
And plenty of countries hold their noses and tolerate our barbaric death penalty laws because of our giant market. Goes both ways.
 
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84 (86 / -2)

Frodo Douchebaggins

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DEATH penalty for homosexuality? What a backwards-ass country. And an embarrassment (for us) that they're not on the OFAC list.


You can do *absolutely anything you want to any group of people* as long as you sell us oil.
And plenty of countries hold their noses and tolerate our barbaric death penalty laws because of our giant market. Goes both ways.


Yup. I'm against the death penalty here, too.
 
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23 (27 / -4)