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Amazon sellers ‘hijack’ listings to sell face masks despite new rules

wired.com

11–20 of 114 posts

Re: Amazon sellers ‘hijack’ listings to sell face masks despite new rules

#11
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post #2

> We use sophisticated tools, including machine learning, to combat them, and we are making it increasingly difficult for bad actors to hide. So sophisticated that some reporter for wired could find them in the top few hundred bestsellers in a few minutes with a quick visual scan. Let’s be clear: Amazon should not be censoring legal items on their platform. However, their efforts at stopping it are purely a PR matter…

> a quick visual scan Yeah a quick visual scan from a human is super easy to automate.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon sellers ‘hijack’ listings to sell face masks despite new rules

#15
post #3
post #2

> We use sophisticated tools, including machine learning, to combat them, and we are making it increasingly difficult for bad actors to hide. So sophisticated that some reporter for wired could find them in the top few hundred bestsellers in a few minutes with a quick visual scan. Let’s be clear: Amazon should not be censoring legal items on their platform. However, their efforts at stopping it are purely a PR matter…

> a quick visual scan Yeah a quick visual scan from a human is super easy to automate.

Or just a plain old text search. One of the examples in the article has "50 pcs disposable surgical mask" in the product name.

I just searched that myself on Amazon and got 178 results, and most are at inflated prices.

Re: Amazon sellers ‘hijack’ listings to sell face masks despite new rules

#17

This guy got a "hand sanitizer" copper disk (??) listed as an "Amazon's choice!" https://www.amazon.com/Sani-Disc-GK95D-Cleaner-Wherever-Prob...

Many metals are contact-antimicrobial

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimicrobial_properties_of_co... -: Copper and its alloys (brasses, bronzes, cupronickel, copper-nickel-zinc, and others) are natural antimicrobial materials.

And https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligodynamic_effect -: The oligodynamic effect (from Greek oligos "few", and dynamis "force") is a biocidal effect of metals, especially heavy metals, that occurs even in low concentrations.

Re: Amazon sellers ‘hijack’ listings to sell face masks despite new rules

#19

This guy got a "hand sanitizer" copper disk (??) listed as an "Amazon's choice!" https://www.amazon.com/Sani-Disc-GK95D-Cleaner-Wherever-Prob...

Archived: https://web.archive.org/save/https://www.amazon.com/Sani-Dis...

Re: Amazon sellers ‘hijack’ listings to sell face masks despite new rules

#20

This guy got a "hand sanitizer" copper disk (??) listed as an "Amazon's choice!" https://www.amazon.com/Sani-Disc-GK95D-Cleaner-Wherever-Prob...

And here is somone who got a "#1 best seller listing". Notice they say "ma-sk" instead of "mask"

https://www.amazon.com/Breathing-Disposable-Respirator-Activ...

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