It is so frustrating that Shopify has ignored calls to stop allowing Breitbart on their platform for years.
This product, and many others like it are currently for sale on Shopify’s platform.
The product description is as follows:
“I volunteered to fight in this war. I have risen through the ranks and now find myself on the front lines with an army of New Media warriors following me into the fray. It is no longer a choice to fight; I am compelled to fight.”
When will Shopify remove this propaganda swag other hate products like it from Breitbart, and others, on their service?
On this issue Shopify has never had a suitable explanation. The only one ever offered was an argument from the company's CEO about free speech protection.
Shopify is a corporation, and a brand. It gets to decide who it associates with unlike governments and public institutions. Selling on Shopify is not a right.
Shopify gives the Breitbart’s of the world cover by pushing a concept that the ecommerce giant is a harmless, neutral arbiter and intermediary… this passivity allows others to incite violence and hatred via their platform.
While many of these products, replete with dog whistles, had some plausible deniability, others had much less subtle messaging. Anyone giving more than a cursory look knows what this stuff was about.
Phrases like: #WAR, Fight Club USA, Walk Toward The Fire, are hard to miss in meaning.
And because their priority wasn’t people, communities, safety, and democracy, Shopify hid behind the deliberate obfuscation and QAnon signalling and simply looked away in the name of perceived best interest to shareholders.
From Gavin McInnes to Rebel Media, Canada needs to start taking responsibility for its role in spreading fascism, here and abroad.