Amazon is using the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to decide which organizations are recognized in a shopper’s charity giving. Amazon has partnered with the SPLC to donate proceeds from purchases using Amazon Smile to various organizations, excluding faith-based and Conservative groups. SPLC labels such organizations as “hate groups,” and does not provide Amazon shoppers with the option of donating proceeds to the organizations of their choice.
From The Daily Signal:
Amazon under current CEO Andy Jassy did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment about whether the company would reconsider using the SPLC’s “hate group” list to exclude charities from Amazon Smile. The Ruth Institute, an interfaith coalition aimed at helping “survivors of the sexual revolution,” applied to join Amazon Smile back in 2016. “We were officially rejected from participation,” the organization’s treasurer, Rachel Golden, told The Daily Signal. She reached out to Amazon Smile and received an email with registration steps. After she followed them, Amazon sent another email noting that the Ruth Institute is “not eligible to participate in AmazonSmile.” “We rely on the Southern Poverty Law Center to determine which charities are in certain ineligible categories,” the follow-up email states. “You have been excluded from the AmazonSmile program because the Southern Poverty Law Center lists The Ruth Institute in an ineligible category.”
