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Woke Company Report

Amazon – Woke Company Report

F66/100 higher is better
Originally published October 20, 2026
Aerial view of the Amazon Spheres, three glass domes on Amazon's headquarters campus in Seattle
Photo: The Spheres, Amazon headquarters, Seattle. Sea Cow, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped, via Wikimedia Commons.

Full report

Points deducted by category

  1. DEI hiring, pay & suppliers: 5/15 points deducted
    • Amazon's VP of Inclusive Experiences and Technology wrote in a Dec 16, 2024 memo (full text published by CNBC, Jan 10, 2025) that Amazon is "winding down outdated programs and materials" but that "we'll keep investing in programs that help us reflect those audiences" and "we remain dedicated to delivering inclusive experiences." Whether these programs continue as of October 2026 is not verified. (source)
  2. Internal policies & benefits: 8/10 points deducted
    • HRC Corporate Equality Index 2026: 100, verified participant ("100 Verified 2026 Score" on hrc.org, read Oct 20, 2026). (source)
    • A verified HRC 100 rating requires transgender-inclusive health benefits (CEI 2026 criteria: https://reports.hrc.org/corporate-equality-index-2026). (source)
  3. Free speech, debanking, deplatforming & anti-military/anti-American conduct: 21/15 points deducted (cap 15; MAJOR items are not limited by the cap)
    • Letter to Sens. Rubio, Hawley, Braun and Lee (Mar 11, 2021): Amazon removed "When Harry Became Sally" and said "we have chosen not to sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness." (source)
    • Kindle Direct Publishing content guidelines (live, read Oct 20, 2026): "We don't sell certain content including content that we determine is hate speech … or other material we deem inappropriate or offensive." (source)
    • On June 10, 2020, Amazon announced a "one-year moratorium on police use of Amazon's facial recognition technology" (Rekognition), saying, "We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules." On May 18, 2021, Amazon said it would extend the ban "until further notice" (CNN, May 18, 2021: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/18/tech/amazon-police-facial-recognition-ban). Whether the ban is still in place is not verified. (source)
    • Note (not scored): Amazon Web Services suspended Parler's hosting account during the night of Jan 10-11, 2021. AWS's Jan 9, 2021 email to Parler, quoted in the court's order, said: 'Because Parler cannot comply with our terms of service and poses a very real risk to public safety, we plan to suspend Parler's account effective Sunday, January 10th, at 11:59PM PST.' On Jan 21, 2021, the court denied Parler's motion for a preliminary injunction (Parler LLC v. Amazon Web Services, Inc., W.D. Wash. No. 2:21-cv-0031-BJR, Dkt. 34; https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.294664/gov.uscourts.wawd.294664.34.0.pdf). (source)
  4. Political giving (PAC, treasury, leadership): 3/10 points deducted
    • Amazon suspended political contributions to the members of Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 Electoral College results (January 2021). (source)
    • Federal PAC, 2024 cycle (FEC bulk file pas224, contributions to candidates, type 24K): about 51% to Democrats ($405,500 D vs. $395,000 R). (source)
  5. Advocacy, lobbying & public statements: 2/15 points deducted
    • Listed (logo) as a member of HRC's Business Coalition for the Equality Act (HRC coalition page, roster saved Oct 20, 2026). (source)
  6. Marketing, products & content: 0/10 points deducted
  7. Charitable & activist funding: 4.5/10 points deducted
    • AmazonSmile excluded Coral Ridge Ministries (D. James Kennedy Ministries) from its charity program because the SPLC "Hate Map" listed it; the 11th Circuit affirmed dismissal of the ministry's suit (Coral Ridge Ministries Media v. Amazon.com, No. 19-14125). AmazonSmile closed in Feb 2023. (source)
    • Amazon: "In 2020, Amazon donated $10 million to organizations working to bring about social justice and improve the lives of Black and African Americans," plus an employee match bringing the total to $27 million (Amazon Black History Month 2021 post). (source)
  8. ESG, activist investing & industry/regional boycotts: 0/10 points deducted
  9. China & foreign-adversary ties: 0.75/5 points deducted
    • Reported (Reuters, Dec 17, 2021): "about two years ago," Beijing ordered Amazon to stop allowing customer ratings and reviews of a book by Xi Jinping on its China site, and "Amazon complied." Amazon gave no date. (Reuters text via CNBC syndication.) (source)
  10. Election & voting-law activism: 4/10 points deducted
    • Amazon is listed as a corporate signer of the "We Stand for Democracy" two-page ad (NYT and Washington Post, Apr 14, 2021), which opposed "any discriminatory legislation or measures that restrict or prevent any eligible voter" from voting, published as states including Georgia passed election-law changes. (source)
  11. Border & immigration enforcement: 2/10 points deducted
    • Amazon.com, Inc. joined the "Brief of 143 U.S. Business Associations and Companies" (Supreme Court, DHS v. Regents, Nos. 18-587/588/589, Oct 3, 2019) supporting the challengers to the rescission of DACA. (source)
  12. Faith, family & children: 4/10 points deducted
    • Amazon signed HRC's coalition statement opposing state legislation (incl. parental-rights and sports bills). (source)
    • Note (not scored): Amazon Original children's series "Danger & Eggs" (Prime Video, episodes dated June 29, 2017) is centered on "a fearless, teal-haired girl named D.D. Danger" and "a giant talking egg named Phillip" (Prime Video synopsis); The Guardian (June 30, 2020) notes a trans girl supporting character (The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/30/it-takes-away-the-stigma-five-of-the-best-cartoons-with-transgender-characters). (source)
  13. Climate & anti-fossil-fuel advocacy: 3.5/10 points deducted
    • Co-founded The Climate Pledge: "net zero carbon across their businesses by 2040." (source)
    • Co-founder and first signatory of The Climate Pledge coalition (with Global Optimism), which recruits other companies to commit to net zero by 2040. (source)
  14. Second Amendment & lawful-firearms commerce: 0/10 points deducted
  15. Government-coordinated content moderation: 0/10 points deducted
    • Note (not scored): Amazon's internal emails, subpoenaed and published by the House Judiciary Committee (interim staff report, May 1, 2024, §III 'The Amazon Files'; https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/Biden-WH-Censorship-Report-final.pdf), show that after a White House official raised 'misinformation and disinformation' in Amazon book results on Mar 2, 2021, Amazon created an 'Anti-vax [Do Not Promote]' class on Mar 9, 2021, the day of its White House meeting; staff asked beforehand, 'Is the [Biden] Admin asking us to remove books, or are they more concerned about search results/order (or both)?' Amazon has not stated the reason for the change. (source)
  16. Abortion advocacy, benefits & funding: 4/10 points deducted
    • Amazon to Sen. Warren and Rep. Bush (Oct 21, 2022): the May 2, 2022 travel and lodging benefit "covers … pregnancy-related services, including elective abortion," up to $4,000 per year per member. (source)
  17. American Workers & H-1B Displacement: 0/10 points deducted

Final verdict: Grade F

Grades run A (best) to F (worst) on a 0–100 scale, where a higher score is better: every company starts at 100 and loses points for each finding. Every finding links to its source. See how we rate for the scale and the category caps. Points from MAJOR items are not limited by the category cap, so a category can show more points deducted than its cap.