Since its founding, the website Amazon.com has attracted criticism and controversy from multiple sources, where the ethics of certain business practices and policies have been drawn into question. Amazon has faced numerous allegations of anti-competitive or monopolistic behavior, both in and out of court. This includes documented instances of price differentiation, enforcement of controversial patents against competitors, attempts to prevent discounted direct selling by publishers, and a declared intention to cease working with third-party print on demand services in favour of its own.
Questions have been raised concerning the company's legal compliance. In 2002, Amazon faced a challenge to the legitimacy of their Canadian operations, although that case was subsequently dropped. A 2009 ruling in Japan found that the company, which had tried to avoid paying corporate tax in the country, was in fact liable to pay. Controversy over taxation has arisen on multiple occasions: It was reported in 2012 that Amazon is under investigation in the UK, while in the US the company has attracted criticism for only collecting sales tax from customers in five states. Compounding these problems, there have been reports of poor treatment of workers, with allegations of summary dismissals for health problems and anti-unionization tactics including mass layoffs.
Some controversies have centered around content. The bookstore has carried titles such as The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure and cock-fighting magazine The Game Cock, which has attracted condemnation and even legal action from various organisations. Amazon and others have cited freedom of speech as justification for stocking controversial work. In contrast however, there have been reports of potential censorship, where material in fields such as feminism and sexual identity has been flagged as "adult content" and