United Arab Emirates: DUBAI Following a number of pushbacks against same-sex themes in the Gulf region, e-commerce behemoth Amazon has decided to ban search results for LGBTQ-related products on its website for the United Arab Emirates.
Amazon made the decision after coming under pressure from UAE authorities, who reportedly threatened it with penalties and gave it until Friday to comply with its demand to restrict search results for LGBTQ-themed materials. Documents viewed by the New York Times, which broke the news first, indicate this.
The Times reported that “Amazon had its Restricted Products team take measures to delete specific product listings after hearing from the Emirates, and a team that handles the company’s search capabilities buried the results for more than 150 terms.” Those keywords included “LGBTQ,” “pride,” “closeted gay” and “transgender flag,” among others, the report said.
On Friday, July 1, a search for “LGBT” and “LGBTQ” on Amazon’s UAE website turned up nothing. However, a few rainbow-themed things, like notebooks, shirts, and phone cases with the word “pride,” did turn up in searches for “pride.” There were still some plain rainbow flags available.
As of the time of writing, the UAE’s Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not responded to CNBC’s request for comment.
The news comes in the midst of Pride Month, which is observed in many nations around the globe but not in the religiously conservative Gulf, where Muslims make up a majority. In the UAE, homosexuality is a crime that carries penalties and jail time.
