No profiting from hate: Online bookstores pull manifesto by mass shooter Breivik after outcry

At least two online bookstores stopped selling the manifesto compiled by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, who reportedly inspired the mosque massacres in Christchurch, New Zealand last week.

Breivik, an extremist white supremacist, is currently serving a maximum 21-year sentence for slaughtering 77 people and injuring over 300 in an act of political violence. He timed his 2011 bomb and gun attack with the release of an anti-Muslim manifesto explaining his motivations. The 1,518-page text is mostly a compilation of what other people wrote and Breivik liked, and is available freely online.

Until recently, one could also order a hard copy of the manifesto from Amazon. This was the case until the British news outlet the Times highlighted this fact on Sunday in an accusatory report. A text by Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who murdered nine people at a black church in Charleston in 2015, was also available for purchase, the newspaper said, accusing the international giant of profiting from hate literature.

“Online retailers – just like social media companies – need to stop playing into the hands of terrorists by giving them the notoriety they crave and even selling their so-called manifestos,” the Times was told by Brendan Cox, the husband of Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered by a white supremacist in June 2016. “Too many corporates are actively making future attacks more likely.”

Amazon did not respond to a request for comment, but pulled down the controversial products soon after the story was published.

Scandinavian book retailer Adlibris was also found selling Breivik’s manifesto by Norwegian broadcaster NRK. Adlibris quickly withdrew the three-volume book and explained that the text showed up among its products due to an automated publication process. The product was created through a self-publishing website and was not pre-moderated.

“As a rule, we read the incoming titles. Of course, we cannot control all 15 million titles, but we actively remove them,” Adlibris Nordic sales manager Sakari Luovio told NRK. He added the records showed not a single copy of the book had been sold and that if the opposite were true, the firm would have donated all proceeds to charity.

Breivik’s manifesto returned to the public spotlight after a terrorist attack on two mosques in New Zealand last week, which left 50 people dead. The suspect got inspiration from the Norwegian murderer’s crimes, or at least that’s what he claimed in his own manifesto, which he published before going on a gun rampage in Christchurch.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!