Audible, owned by Amazon, turned audiobooks into a subscription empire. It markets convenience and storytelling, but every sale fuels a corporation built on worker exploitation, union busting, and surveillance tech. Each Subscribtion is bankrolling one of the most destructive companies on the planet.
Amazon is rated High Impact because its harms are systemic and interlocking.
Environmental Harm: Delivery fleets, aviation cargo, and data centers generate massive emissions and plastic waste, while public pledges mask lobbying against climate regulation.
Human Rights Violations: Workers face surveillance, injury-level quotas, and unsafe delivery speeds. Migrant workers in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere face wage theft and coercion.
Military & Conflict Complicity: AWS is central to surveillance states. Project Nimbus embeds Amazon in Israel’s occupation and war crimes, supplying AI and data services to its military and government.
The result: consumer spending that powers a machine which entrenches inequality, accelerates climate collapse, and sustains state violence worldwide.
Libby (Overdrive) Completely free, connecting you to your local public library’s collection of ebooks and audiobooks via your library card. Highly accessible and used by around 90% of libraries in North America.
Want to support indie bookstores and own your audiobooks? Go with Libro.fm.