Shopify Inc. said it shut down e-commerce stores affiliated with President Donald Trump in response to the storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. Facebook and Shopify aren’t the only big tech companies taking action against Donald Trump’s web presence in the wake of yesterday’s riots in Washington, D.C because Twitch also recently followed suit.
Shopify, which hosted shops related to Trump’s campaign paraphernalia and the outgoing President’s personal brand, TrumpStore, has apparently taken down both of those properties. Both TrumpStore.com and the Trump campaign’s Shop.DonaldJTrump.com, which sold Make America Great Again hats and other merchandise, were both offline Thursday morning.
A Shopify spokesperson wrote in a statement;
“Shopify does not tolerate actions that incite violence. Based on recent events, we have determined that the actions by President Donald J. Trump violate our Acceptable Use Policy, which prohibits promotion or support of organizations, platforms or people that threaten or condone violence to further a cause. As a result, we have terminated stores affiliated with President Trump.”
News of the move was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. It’s a reversal of policy for the company, which had previously defended the rights of any customer to use the platform and a refusal to engage in what chief executive Tobias Lütke termed censorship. In a now-deleted letter Lütke had authored back in 2017, the Shopify chief executive wrote that “commerce is a powerful, underestimated form of expression.”
Drawing a parallel between individual purchases made by consumers and votes, Lütke had said that it was not Shopify’s place to interrupt that free expression, even if personally and as an organization, they disagree with the positions of those on the platform. Shopify, which helps merchants set up e-commerce operations, saw huge growth during the coronavirus pandemic. On Black Friday, it had more than $5 billion in aggregate sales.
Since that 2017 stand, Shopify has softened its position somewhat. In 2018 the company banned some right-wing groups from the platform — including shops affiliated with the Proud Boys organization (who were involved in yesterday’s riot at the Capitol). And, as Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the U.S. the company donated some of its funds to civil rights organizations. The company’s stock is trading up $66, or roughly 6%, at $1,152.94 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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