Unpopular opinions on Amazon Banning Light Novels

[Deleted member 19049]

Don't care about the politics of it, I find the question of, "Should the biggest company be allowed to ban things?" much more interesting. For example, someone gets banned on Facebook for saying something nasty. Should that be allowed? On one side yes because it's a private platform and they can do what they want, but on the other hand no because they are like the new 'town square'. Banning someone on Facebook for something they said is like saying you can't talk in public.

With Amazon, they are the largest distributor of books. Should they be allowed to ban something because they don't like it? I honestly don't know. It can be argued that it's like burning book, but again, private platform. I think I lean more towards the idea that they can't. At some point a company is so large and has so much power that they shouldn't be allowed to do what they want. They should be reined in a little.

 

[Rinne]

This personally annoys me quite a lot actually. Because I have to import Light Novels and Amazon makes it very easy to do so since you can just order online and they deal with everything else, including customs.
Hell, most Light Novels are even in stock in a nearby distribution center already so I can get them within a day or two. Without Amazon, I have little way in ordering physical books online outside of importing them myself. While generally I assume that'll be fine, it can still turn out to be rather annoying to deal with customs.

Guess I'll have to make more trips to my local bookstore in the future and hope they do it. While I don't mind e-books all that much, I definitely prefer physical books if I have the option. Although, if they ban even more novels, maybe some online store here is willing to fill that void at some point...
Nah, probably not. That'd imply that enough people could read english novels at my place.

 

[Mephi]

Japanese light novels and manga do have a tendency to sexualize minors. No Game, No Life is a prime example of this; Shiro is an 11 year old, and the chapter 1 cover is sexualized.

Can you call it an excuse when it's actually true, and rather illegal in the US?

Amazon is well known for bleeding millions of dollars just for a slightly larger market share. I seriously doubt Amazon would give something up unless there's threat of legal action or something.

 

[Thor]

Gotta be honest, I am totally ok with amazon not selling if they dont want to. Not wanting to sell books that sexualize minors is in my opinion an okayish reason. In the end its their choice what they allow to sell on their platform.

It probably doesnt even have something to do with any movements or smth like that. Most countries have laws against sexualizing minors in literature for good reason.

But that also means I have to look somewhere else for NGNL volumes :/