A recently released report highlights how Amazon’s book recommendation algorithms can lead people to literature about extremism, white nationalism, and conspiracy theories, including QAnon and Covid-19 disinformation.

The study, published in April by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a UK-based think tank researching extremism, analyzed Amazon’s book recommendation algorithms for literature about white nationalist and far-right content, coronavirus denialism, and conspiracies about QAnon and fraud in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. 

The analysis found that the platform’s recommendation algorithms, which suggest titles and authors to people browsing through books on the platform — while relatively harmless for most users — can create a disturbing pipeline into extremist literature, directing customers toward conspiracy theories and white nationalist literature.

The study found Amazon’s algorithmic recommendations “could serve as a gateway into a broader universe of conspiracy theories and misinformation, or to increasingly radical far-right and white nationalist content."