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Summary
- The online business based in Canada, Shopify, has stopped selling US President Donald Trump’s merchandise via its popular platform.
- The company’s decision became public after Trump’s followers brutally attacked the White House on Thursday, resulting in four civilian deaths during violent riots.
- Social media giants Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, disabled Mr Trump’s social media accounts.
The e-commerce giant Shopify has decided to remove US President Donald Trump’s stores from its platform.
The Canadian company pulled out all merchandise related to the sitting president as a response to recent riots in the US capital Washington DC.
The online platform stated that Mr Trump’s comments did not comply with Shopify’s terms and conditions, which prohibit the platform from supporting those who incite violence.
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In a recent statement, Shopify announced the following:
The e-commerce business has completely shut down trumpstore.com and shop.donaldjtrump.com, both of which previously sold Trump’s merchandise.
Shopify’s ban on Mr Trump’s products comes after a mob of Trump supporters stormed Capitol Hill, resulting in mass violent protests and a subsequent lockdown of Washington DC. US authorities had to intervene to tackle the situation and four individuals suffered fatal injuries while participating in the riots.
Shopify’s move seems contradictory to the stance it held in 2017 when its CEO Tobias Lütke wrote an open letter about not supporting any type of censorship for Shopify clients.
According to Mr Lütke, every brand needs to be equally accepted in the e-commerce business, even if the company itself does not comply with the client’s views and products.
Lütke’s letter came in response to heavy backlash received by Shopify for continuing to allow Breitbart, a right-wing publication, to operate on its platform, even though the news website was heavily involved in supporting sexist and racist content.
Have any other businesses reacted to Mr Trump?
Shopify was not the only company that drastically reacted to the recent events in Washington.
Snapchat was the first social system that banned Mr Trump’s account on Wednesday.
Soon, Facebook and Instagram both followed suit and banned Mr Trump from using their platforms until further notice. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Mr Trump’s social media accounts will not be active for at least two weeks, or until President-elect Joe Biden transitions to the White House.
Twitter, Mr Trump’s most used social account, also barred the current president from using Twitter for 12 hours.
©Kalkine Group 2020
MUST READ: US Capitol Riots: Facebook and Twitter block Trump’s Accounts
What was Mr Trump selling via Shopify?
When the president was still allowed to sell his merchandise on Shopify, his online businesses offered a wide range of Trump-related paraphernalia including MAGA hats (Make America Great Again), pins, Trump 2020 buttons, apparel, and many other items.
According to NPR, all profits from Trumpstore.com went to the private organisation created by Trump, while sales from shop.donaldjtrump.com flowed to the official Trump political campaign.
