By Erich Schwartzel, Shane Shifflett and Alexandra Berzon
When Walter Wilson, a construction worker from North Carolina,
sat down to watch the blockbuster "Avengers: Endgame" on Amazon
Prime Video, he ended up seeing something very different: a 2007
documentary, also titled "Endgame," directed by far-right talk show
host Alex Jones.
Mr. Jones's videos have been banned from many mainstream sites
like Apple Inc.'s iTunes and Facebook for promoting outlandish
conspiracy theories. "Endgame" purported to document a clandestine
organization of bankers and politicians bent on establishing a
"blueprint for global enslavement."
Its availability on Amazon.com Inc.'s streaming service
highlighted a fact not widely known among subscribers: The
e-commerce giant accepts nonprofessional and questionable content
to offer a video library that in Amazon's style can dominate the
competition through sheer volume.
While the video service is known for original movies and shows
that have won Oscars and Emmys -- such as "Manchester By the Sea"
and "Transparent" -- the site also carries thousands of
conspiracy-theory videos, amateur productions and short
instructional clips. Similar to Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube, some
videos are uploaded by individuals who made them or by others
owning the rights to the content. Others Amazon bought in bulk as
part of vast libraries of amateur content.
An Amazon spokeswoman says the company has sought a broad
selection of content, including videos from award winners and
independent producers.
"We continuously review and monitor titles to ensure that they
are in accordance with our policies and guidelines," she said. "If
content is identified as not meeting those standards, it is
immediately removed."
YouTube, a self-avowed creature of user-generated video, also
has faced the challenge of policing objectionable content on its
site.
Mr. Wilson and other Prime Video subscribers said they have
enjoyed some of the non-mainstream programming they have found on
the service, and some independent producers call it a valuable
outlet to reach a broad audience.
Amazon Prime members get unlimited viewing of videos, as well as
free shipping for physical goods, at a cost of $119 a year.
After inquiries from The Wall Street Journal, Amazon took down
"Endgame" and two other videos from Mr. Jones -- all self-uploaded,
according to the company -- citing violations of company policy.
The company's content policy focuses on issues pertaining to the
sexually explicit, violence and copyright infringement, but it
gives Amazon leeway to disallow anything it deems
inappropriate.
Mr. Jones's company, Infowars, didn't respond to requests for
comment.
Amazon boasts that its library of more than 70,000 movies,
television shows and videos is several times bigger than top rivals
like Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co.'s Hulu.
Amazon executives say that to bulk up quickly, especially in
foreign countries, the company has encouraged people with rights to
videos to self upload through an automatic system without first
negotiating licensing deals with studios and other major companies,
which can be time-consuming. Neither Netflix nor Hulu has such a
self-upload feature.
Some well-known movies from years ago, such as "Thelma and
Louise" and "Silence of the Lambs," were uploaded by movie studios
that way, Amazon says.
So was plenty of amateur content -- some of it with misleading
titles. Amazon runs ads with some Prime Video content and gives
producers a cut, increasing the incentive to use titles that are
attention-grabbing. For example, a 12-minute user-uploaded clip of
a videogame was titled "Clip: Elsa from Frozen Cooking Show
Game."
Amazon's approach to video echoes that of the company's core
e-commerce business. There, third-party sellers now account for a
majority of sales after Amazon spent years building a reputation as
a reliable direct seller of books and other items.
But such openness invites risk. The Journal last year reported
that thousands of consumer products listed by third parties on
Amazon were deceptively labeled or had been deemed unsafe or banned
by regulators. The company, which took down some of those listings
after the Journal's reporting, said it is investing billions to
root out unsafe and counterfeit products.
In the case of self-uploaded videos, the company employs an
artificial-intelligence tool to detect obvious violations of its
terms of service, such as pornography or copyright infringement.
Humans also review user comments for mentions of anything
potentially offensive.
The company doesn't disclose what percentage of videos on Prime
are uploaded and unlike YouTube doesn't label user-generated
content on the site. But former Prime Video executives say such
content is now a majority of videos. A December analysis by Ampere
Analysis found about 22,500 movies and TV shows on the service were
professionally made, while more than 43,000 were user-uploaded.
YouTube, the biggest site for user-generated videos, identifies
the account that uploaded a given video, whether it is a Hollywood
studio or an average person.
Amazon Prime Video has become an important distributor for Chris
Emery, the producer of "A Noble Lie: Oklahoma City 1995," a
documentary that argues Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh may
have been persuaded to blow up the federal building through
government-sponsored mind control. Netflix removed the documentary
in 2012 with no explanation, and sales for the DVD had plummeted by
2015.
Getting the movie on Prime Video "has really launched us
world-wide," Mr. Emery said, adding the movie is watched thousands
of times a month in markets as far-flung as the Philippines and
Russia.
To get a sense of what else on Amazon's vast platform was
getting noticed by viewers, the Journal analyzed the metadata
associated with 50,000 Amazon Prime videos of all sorts.
Controversial content drew a lot of response from viewers.
For example, "Dreams from My Real Father," which falsely reports
that Barack Obama's biological father was a Communist Party member
and CIA agent, ranked No. 8 among the most-reviewed features in the
Special Interest category. "The Enemies Within," about how certain
Democratic members of Congress purportedly collude with the Muslim
Brotherhood and other radical organizations, is No. 10. Both videos
received as many comments as several historical miniseries by
documentarian Ken Burns.
The Journal also ranked the most-prolific uploaders on the site
and in their content found many innocuous examples of amateur
video.
Jasmina Susak has posted more than 200 art-instruction videos,
including "Clip: Drawing Chuck Norris" and "Clip: Time Lapse
Drawing McDonald's Menu." Another prolific user, a Bible teacher
named Mike Mazzalongo, said he has uploaded about 1,000 videos of
his sermons on sinning and the power of prayer. Both users have
more videos on Prime Video than any major Hollywood studio except
Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures.
More than 400,000 minutes of Mr. Mazzalongo's videos were
streamed over four weeks in November and December, said Hal
Greenwood, the technology manager at BibleTalk.tv, the company
behind the videos. The platform broadened their reach, he said,
with the added benefit of bringing in about $500 in ad revenue.
Appearing on Amazon can also confer a level of credibility that
sites like YouTube cannot. The Producers Guild of America, a key
professional association, recognizes Amazon Prime as a streaming
platform that can help a producer to qualify for membership --
though at the same time its policy states that "direct-to-consumer
or noncurated distribution platforms cannot be used to qualify a
film for distribution." Other means recognized by the guild include
Hulu, Netflix, theatrical release, distribution through mainstream
cable or appearances at a handful of major film festivals.
Mr. Wilson said he proceeded to continue watching "Endgame," the
Alex Jones documentary, and found it persuasive. "I do have
concerns about the so-called shadow organizations and New World
Order, because somebody, somewhere, is pulling the strings," the
67-year-old construction worker said.
Other viewers said they appreciated the seemingly limitless
number of offerings. Bethany Wickham, a 38-year-old photographer in
Southern California, said she loves watching obscure crime
documentaries on Amazon, even though some are extremely shoddy.
"There might be that diamond in the rough," Ms. Wickham
said.
Write to Erich Schwartzel at erich.schwartzel@wsj.com, Shane
Shifflett at Shane.Shifflett@wsj.com and Alexandra Berzon at
alexandra.berzon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 23, 2020 10:31 ET (15:31 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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