Online shops for the Trump Organisation and the Trump campaign went dark on Thursday after Shopify became the latest platform to block or remove the president in response to Wednesday’s botched coup attempt.
Shopify, an Ontario-based e-commerce software provider, took both sites offline after the company’s trust and safety team decided that President Donald Trump’s comments on Wednesday violated its acceptable use policy, which prohibits merchants on the platform from promoting or condoning violence, the Wall Street Journal reports. Just hours before pro-Trump insurgents stormed the Capitol complex, Trump fired up his supporters at a nearby rally with his conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud and urged them to “walk down to the Capitol.”
As of Thursday morning, navigating to TrumpStore.com or the Trump campaign’s Shop.DonaldJTrump.com, both of which sold the president’s infamous Make America Great Again hats and other merchandise, just brings up an error page. A Shopify spokesperson confirmed the decision in an emailed statement to Gizmodo:
“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 organisations, platforms or people that threaten or condone violence to further a cause. As a result, we have terminated stores affiliated with President Trump.”
Retailers found in violation of Shopify’s acceptable use policy receive a permanent ban from the platform, according to a company spokesperson. So if either Trump-affiliated group wants to start selling MAGA hats again, they’re going to have to look elsewhere.
Shopify, which made more than $US5 ($6) billion in Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales this year, is the latest platform to give the president the boot after the situation in D.C. descended into violent chaos. Twitter instated a 12-hour ban on Wednesday, and both Twitch and Facebook announced earlier today that the president has been blocked from the platforms indefinitely.