June 18, 2018 at 02:42PM
via The Telegraph
The digital giant is spending billions on big budget dramas and sports rights to colonise the living room with Amazon Prime Video.
But as concern over online misinformation mounts The Sunday Telegraph can reveal it is also propagating the bizarre fantasies of Alex Jones and David Icke.
Mr Jones is a leading figure in the so-called US alt-right, known for his paranoid anti-government rants online.
He is being sued by the parents of children murdered in the Sandy Hook school shooting after claiming the massacre of 20 six and seven-year-olds by a mentally ill young man was staged as a “false flag” to help impose gun control.
In one of half a dozen feature-length films on Amazon Prime Video Mr Jones claims that the Obama administration was backed by a New World Order to “attempt to con the American people into accepting global slavery”.
Mr Jones has been described by the Anti-Defamation league, a US Jewish group, has highlighted his rants against jews and the “Jewish mafia. He denies anti-semitism.
Mr Icke, a former BBC sport presenter, remains best known for claiming he was the son of God in a Terry Wogan interview in 1991.
In a film on Amazon Prime Video, available as part of the service’s £7.99 per month subscription, Mr Icke claims all political leaders report to the reptilian race.
Amazon’s dissemination of conspiracy theories as part of a service challenging traditional television is likely to stoke debate over regulation.
The BBC and Channel 4 are demanding rule to ensure their programmes - which are produced under strict rules of accuracy - are guaranteed prominence as a shift to on-demand viewing via apps instead of channel menus accelerates.
On-demand-only programming is currently subject to much more relaxed regulation, although the Government has signalled a crackdown is in the works. Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.