Utrecht, Nov. 8, 2022 – Unfortunately, books with anti-Semitic content are still available. As people today increasingly purchase products through web shops and online platforms, a new approach is needed to combat the online sale of anti-Semitic content.
Therefore, the National Coordinator for Combating Anti-Semitism (NCAB) is launching an initiative for a better and more efficient approach for web shops and online platforms to exclude anti-Semitic content from their assortment. Bol.com is a partner in the initiative and has published online its vision and method for countering discriminatory books, such as those with anti-Semitic content. With this, the NCAB and bol.com want to interest companies, which deal with similar issues, to exchange knowledge and experiences and jointly come up with effective roadmaps.
The NCAB will ask other web shops and online platforms, operating in the Netherlands, to share their vision and working methods and organize a meeting in early 2023 between representatives of these parties to exchange their experiences and best practices. All this to come up with a better and efficient way to ban anti-Semitic content from web shops and online platforms.
Response NCAB
“Books with anti-Semitic content are unfortunately still available. This initiative helps to stop the sale of these hateful products on the Internet. We encourage other web shops and online platforms to participate in our initiative.”
Review framework for books
Bol.com is the store of all of us. That means that everyone should be able to come to bol.com and feel welcome. Articles, including books, that incite hatred, violence or unequal treatment can therefore be removed from bol.com’s platform. This also applies to books that incite hatred, violence or unequal treatment of the Jewish community. At the same time, bol.com wants to deal carefully with freedom of expression and thereby also support the educational and historical importance of books.
Bol.com is not a content expert on the topics described in books. To determine what may be hateful, discriminatory or anti-Semitic, bol.com has drawn input from discussions with experts on the subject, including the Dutch Meldpunt Discriminatie. Among other things, this resulted in a review framework for books.
The assessment framework allows bol.com employees to assess discriminatory books, such as books with anti-Semitic content. Based on a detection, assessment and reporting system, bol.com decides whether a book remains online, is given an information label, or is taken offline. In doing so, bol.com takes into account applicable laws and regulations.
Proactive and reactive assessment
Thousands of new books are automatically uploaded to bol.com every week, complementing an existing assortment of tens of millions of books. New books are now proactively reviewed. In addition, bol.com uses the review framework reactively after notification from customers or employees, for example.
Bol.com continues to develop these systems and is taking steps to address the challenges involved, such as obtaining expertise on titles and authors and making arrangements with publishers and suppliers. In addition, bol.com continues to talk with experts to obtain advice on social issues in order to continue to make well-informed decisions about the assortment in the future.