Amazon’s “Frequently Bought Together” Feature Suggests Dangerous Combinations

Users of the online marketplace Amazon have noticed that the platform offers easy access to ingredients that can be used to make homemade explosives. According to a report by Gizmodo, dangerous product combinations have appeared in the “Frequently Bought Together” section. If a customer selects even one product that could be used in a homemade bomb, the site automatically suggests other missing ingredients, which, when combined, can be extremely hazardous.

These recommendations typically appear when purchasing items from the household chemicals category. The suggestions are generated automatically based on an analysis of user purchases. It appears that Amazon’s administration either turns a blind eye to this issue or is not fully enforcing its policies to regulate the display of such “dangerous” recommendations.

Amazon’s Content Moderation Practices Under Scrutiny

On September 14 of this year, media outlets also reported that Amazon was removing negative reviews of Hillary Clinton’s book (the former U.S. presidential candidate). Reviews with one-star ratings were reportedly deleted.