---
title: "Elon Musk Calls To “Break Up Amazon”"
description: "Elon Musk recently called Amazon a monopoly that should be broken up due to allegations that Amazon censored a controversial book."
date: "2020-06-05"
modified: "2020-06-05"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-break-up-amazon"
categories:
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "Amazon"
  - "coronavirus"
  - "elon musk"
  - "jeff bezos"
  - "the digest"
---

# Elon Musk Calls To “Break Up Amazon”

![Elon Musk recently called Amazon a monopoly that should be broken up due to allegations that Amazon censored a controversial book.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/elon-musk-break-up-amazon-pettiest-reason.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Billionaire Brawl

On Thursday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk sent some angry tweets directed at Amazon — and rival space company Blue Origin — CEO Jeff Bezos, calling Amazon a monopoly that deserved to be broken up.

"This is insane," Musk [tweeted to Bezos](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1268602138860515328>). He then [followed up](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1268603809409888256>) with "Time to break up Amazon. Monopolies are wrong!"

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1268603809409888256

But, in [typical Musk fashion](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-tweets-extremely-dumb>), the tech mogul made a defensible point for incomprehensibly petty, baffling reasons. *[The Mercury News ](<https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/04/elon-musk-says-its-time-to-break-up-amazon/>)*[reports](<https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/04/elon-musk-says-its-time-to-break-up-amazon/>) that the spat was over alleged censorship — that turned out to be a technical error.

## Banned Books

Musk's first tweet was in response to former *New York Times* reporter Alex Berenson, who gained notoriety publishing a wildly [misleading and flawed book](<https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/alex-berenson-marijuana-tell-your-children-trolling-777741/>) about alleged dangers of marijuana.

Berenson recently published a book critical of the U.S. government's lockdowns that were designed to stop the spread of COVID-19. Berenson was [informed by Amazon](<https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson/status/1268529570480824320>) that the e-commerce giant would not sell his book because it "does not comply with \[Amazon's\] guidelines."

However, *The Mercury News* reports that Amazon reversed its decision — which it described as an error — after pressure.

## Strong Stance

The remaining question is whether Elon Musk is actually opposed to Amazon and Bezos' seeming monopoly [and anti-competitive practices](<https://futurism.com/elizabeth-warren-shares-plan-to-break-up-facebook-google-amazon>), or if he's merely rallying behind a book that [matches his own ideology](<https://futurism.com/musk-trump-coronavirus-twitter>).

Musk previously referred to the same stay-at-home measures Berenson criticizes in his book as "fascist," *The Mercury News* reports, and refused to [close a Tesla plant](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/california-cops-tesla-factory-must-shut-down>) until the government forced him to — so his issues with Amazon may begin and end with the publication of this one book.

**READ MORE:** [Elon Musk says it’s ‘time to break up Amazon’](<https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/04/elon-musk-says-its-time-to-break-up-amazon/>) \[*The Mercury News*\]

**More on Elon Musk:** *[Elon Musk Is a Public Health Risk](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/elon-musk-coronavirus-public-health-risk>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)