The e-commerce giant’s policy says users can’t do anything illegal or promote or threaten violence
The store sells apparel and accessories with designs that depict the Holocaust as “make believe,” feature antisemitic propaganda from the Second World War and parody the likeness of Anne Frank.
On Nov. 13, the Anti-Defamation League newsletter focused on the X account and its promotion of “antisemitic” merchandise, while on Nov. 16 the widely followed account Stop Antisemitism joined other social media users alerting Shopify to the account.
Shopify representatives did not respond to five requests for comment, and the store operator did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy says users can’t do anything illegal where they conduct business, or promote or threaten violence. Previous versions of its policy banned “hateful content,” according to archives available on the Wayback Machine, but the clause appears to have been removed in July 2024, based on cached versions of the page reviewed by Bloomberg.
Whether the store breaches the newly permissive policy is unclear. However, in 2022, Canada outlawed denying or downplaying the Nazis’ murder of Jews in the Holocaust. Some of the merchandise in question “would absolutely consist of Holocaust distortion and denial,” said Montreal Holocaust Museum spokeswoman Sarah Fogg.
However, the Ottawa-based e-commerce giant — valued at almost US$140 billion — has banned stores in the past on the grounds of promoting violence. One such store was operated by the Trump Organization and was removed after the President-elect supported protesters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.