Thomas McBrien, counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group that wrote a brief in support of the plaintiffs in one of the cases Amazon now faces, ranked the company differently. He said Amazon approved sellers and products faster than most of its competitors, meaning it likely has fewer checks in place.

“Part of what makes Amazon so successful is they try to wash their hands,” McBrien said. “The less responsibility they have, the more commerce can flow.”

At the federal level, there is an effort to set a precedent: The Consumer Product Safety Commission is considering an order that would classify Amazon as a distributor of goods, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal. That means Amazon would be held to the same standards as traditional retailers.

The order comes after the commission sued Amazon in 2021 over allegations that the company distributed unsafe products from third-party sellers, including faulty carbon monoxide detectors and children’s pajamas that failed flammability tests.

In the lawsuits involving this specific chemical, attorneys argued that Amazon’s business model is part of the problem. “Amazon runs on the principle that it can sell anything to anybody anywhere anytime, and for any reason,” the attorneys wrote.

All six lawsuits involve individuals who purchased the chemical before Amazon changed its practices in October 2022. Most families could not be reached in time for publication, but attorneys representing the plaintiffs say the changes are too little, too late, and they worry that the new practice is not permanent.

Without a court order preventing it from doing so, the attorneys argue, the company could reverse course and make it available to any consumer once again.

'Amazon provides the means'

Back in 2022, before Amazon made changes to how the chemical was sold, the company’s marketing tactics kept bringing customers back to it.

When users searched for the chemical, the fifth result in the search bar read “suicide,” according to screenshots shared in court documents. When users viewed the product page, Amazon recommended other items shoppers had also bought, creating what the plaintiffs called “veritable suicide kits.” When users navigated away from the page without making a purchase, Amazon followed its usual marketing tactics and sent them reminder emails and targeted ads on other websites, according to the lawsuits.

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