To mute criticism, China ordered Amazon to block reviews on Xi Jinping’s book

In one of its favours to the Chinese government, Amazon Inc. disabled ratings, comments and reviews on President Xi Jinping’s book, "The Governance of China."

The book talks about his doctrine of 'Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.'

The move came as a means to mute criticism and ensure that the company could further engage in business with China. As per a report by Reuters, by 2018, the company was receiving an “increasing number of requests from (Chinese) watchdogs to take down certain content, mostly politically sensitive ones."

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This was done after Beijing delivered a judgement saying that the company should stop allowing customer ratings and reviews in China, said two people familiar with the incident. 

However, while China was trying to get rid of the negative review, it was said that the negative reviews of Xi's book gave rise to its demand. One person said, "I think the issue was anything under five stars."

This is similar to how Apple Inc., has become extremely obedient to Beijing in recent years. The report further states that Apple complied with nearly 97 per cent of requests from the Chinese government for user device information in 2019. 

The book has been published in several languages including, Pashto, Dari, Sinhalese, Hindi and English. 

(With inputs from agencies)