Online retailer eBay is removing several Dr. Seuss books from its website that are no longer being published. This decision comes in the wake of Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the business that preserves and protects the author’s legacy, announcing that six of his books will stop being published because of racist and insensitive imagery on Tuesday, March 2.
The books in question are ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street’, ‘If I Ran the Zoo’, ‘McElligot’s Pool’, ‘The Cat’s Quizzer’, ‘Scrambled Eggs Super!’, and ‘On Beyond Zebra!’. The decision to cease publication and sales of the books was reportedly made last year after months of discussion.
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A spokesperson for the website said on Thursday, March 4, that it would no longer be allowing sellers to list the six books. "At eBay, we have a strict policy against hate and discrimination to ensure our platform remains a safe, trusted, and inclusive environment for our global community of buyers and sellers," said eBay Corporate Communications Specialist Parmita Choudhury.
Choudhury added, "We're currently sweeping our marketplace to remove these items. It can take some time to review all existing listings and provide education to impacted users. We're also monitoring the newly published list to be reviewed."
Arkansas resident Carol Carson, who sought to sell a copy of ‘And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street’ on her eBay store, found her listing taken down. Carson shared with the Washington Examiner the message that eBay sent her in explaining the delisting: "We had to remove your listing because it didn't follow our Offensive material policy. Listings that promote or glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination aren't allowed.”
Carson told the conservative news website, "I don't understand why they're taking them down other than virtue signaling. They have so many other listings that are WAY more offensive. I sell books for a living. This was the first time I've ever had a post get bids so early on."
Several Twitter users pointed out, in the aftermath of eBay delisting Dr. Seuss books that ‘Mein Kampf’ – Adolf Hitler’s 1925 autobiographical manifesto – in which he used the main thesis of "the Jewish peril", which posits a Jewish conspiracy to gain world leadership – was still available on eBay for sale. Many even shared screenshots of that.
But, at the time of writing this, a search on the eBay website for ‘Mein Kampf’ revealed zero results. It would seem that the Washington Examiner questioning eBay’s spokesperson about the book triggered the sweep and delisting.
Choudhury told the website, "The item you mentioned is also prohibited on our marketplace – thank you for flagging. With millions of transactions happening every day on our platform across more than 190 markets, we are constantly evaluating and making improvements to ensure prohibited items remain off eBay."
As per eBay's official "Offensive Materials Policy", listings that promote, perpetuate, or glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination, including on the grounds of race, ethnicity, color, religion, gender or sexual orientation, aren't allowed.
This includes but is not limited to slurs or epithets of any kind; slavery items, including reproductions, such as tags, shackles, documents, bills of sale, etc.; items with racist, anti-Semitic, or otherwise demeaning portrayals, for example through caricatures or other exaggerated features, including figurines, cartoons, housewares, historical advertisements, and golliwogs; Black Americana items that are discriminatory; Confederate battle flag and related items with its image; historical Holocaust-related and Nazi-related items, including reproductions; any item that is anti-Semitic or any item from after 1933 that bears a swastika; media identified as Nazi propaganda; and listings that imply or promote support of, membership in, or funding of a terrorist organization.
