The Twitter account Libs of TikTok has become a lightning rod for right-wing discourse around every issue from COVID mandates to election fraud, but its flagship topic is promoting anti-LGBTQ views and content.
Last December, the account run by Chaya Raichik since April 2021 tweeted, “Any teacher who utters the words ‘I came out to my students’ should be fired on the spot.” Libs of TikTok also sells a t-shirt and mugs featuring the phrase “Stop Grooming Our Kids” in reference to tolerant LGBTQ policies. The online store containing that merchandise is powered by Shopify, and the e-commerce company has come under renewed scrutiny for what critics say is monetizing the hate spread by Libs of TikTok.
Shopify has been called on to deplatform Libs of TikTok since at least July, when Media Matters for America, the progressive media watchdog group, outlined its case that the store is in violation of Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policies. The policies state that the company’s services may not be used “to promote or condone hate or violence against people based on race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, medical condition, veteran status or other forms of discriminatory intolerance,” or “to promote or support organizations, platforms or people that: (i) promote or condone such hate; or (ii) threaten or condone violence to further a cause.”
Shopify responded to Media Matters in July with a statement saying, “After conducting an investigation, we determined that this merchant is not currently in violation of Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). Shopify’s growth has meant that we have increasingly become the platform of choice for anyone looking to sell to their consumers online. We host businesses of all stripes and sizes, with various worldviews. We take concerns around the merchants on our platform very seriously, and Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) clearly outlines the activities that are not permitted on our platform.”
This past week, in light of the killing of five people at a Colorado LGBTQ nightclub, Shopify’s stance on Libs of TikTok is again being scrutinized due to the account’s anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. On November 25, Nandini Jammi, cofounder of the advertising watchdog Check My Ads, tweeted out a CBC News article on the issue, and added “Multiple sources have reached out to me with one name: Kaz Nejatian, the COO of @Shopify, who keeps stepping in personally to protect Shopify accounts linked to terrorism & violence.”
Nejatian’s wife, Candice Malcolm, is the founder of the Canadian right-wing media outlet True North.
Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke replied, tweeting, “Shopify has a published acceptable use policy and a principled process to apply it. Pressure groups on all sides try to influence it sometimes and CBC needs to see through that not amplify bad faith narrative.” Twitter owner Elon Musk replied to his tweet with, “Good for you!” Lutke then appeared to mass block any Twitter user who liked or retweeted Jammi’s tweet.
When asked by Fast Company this week about how its policy applies to Libs of TikTok, a Shopify spokesperson sent a lengthy statement that resembled its earlier reply to Media Matters almost word for word. “This merchant is not currently in violation of Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy,” the statement emphasized.
The company would not comment further on where it sees the line between merchandise containing phrases like “Stop Grooming Our Kids” and anti-LGBTQ hate speech. In the past, Shopify has removed products or stores related to the Proud Boys, the Boogaloo movement, QAnon, Three Percenters, Oathkeepers, and TrumpStore.com, all for violating its Acceptable Use Policy.
Ottawa city council member Ariel Troster told CBC, “The ‘OK, groomer’ accusation is falsely stating that members of our community are responsible for pedophilia, falsely stating that we’re responsible for the abuse of children. It’s completely unacceptable.”
In screenshots viewed by Fast Company of an internal Shopify Slack channel for LGBTQ employees, several employees expressed concern over how, in the company’s efforts to not pick a side on this issue, continuing to aid the sale of what one post called the “blatant dogwhistle of anti-queer/anti-trans propaganda” gives the appearance of a side being chosen.
The debate mirrors those elsewhere around platforms giving voice to anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. Last year, employees at Netflix staged a walkout after the streaming company opted to carry Dave Chappelle’s special The Closer.
Shopify, too, has faced this type of criticism before. Back in 2017, it was called on to deplatform Breitbart, with employees also reportedly encouraging that move. At the time, Lutke published a blog post called “In Support of Free Speech” (updated in 2018), in which he cited the ACLU’s definition of free speech.
“To kick off a merchant is to censor ideas and interfere with the free exchange of products at the core of commerce,” Lutke wrote. “When we kick off a merchant, we’re asserting our own moral code as the superior one. But who gets to define that moral code? Where would it begin and end? Who gets to decide what can be sold and what can’t? If we start blocking out voices, we would fall short of our goals as a company to make commerce better for everyone. Instead, we would have a biased and diminished platform.”
The issue, according to Check My Ads cofounder Claire Atkin, goes beyond divisive politics and is about practical community safety. “They still think this is a conversation between left versus right politics, but things have changed,” says Atkin. “This is now a fight between regular everyday people and extremists.”
Ruby on Rails creator and Basecamp cofounder David Heinemeier Hansson wrote a blog post this week praising Shopify for sticking to its neutrality on this issue, and encouraging more companies to do the same. Last year, Hansson and Basecamp cofounder Jason Fried banned societal and political” discussions on internal forums among employees, which reportedly led one-third of its 60-person staff to leave the company.
Earlier this year, ACLU media strategist Gillian Branstetter told The Washington Post, that the rhetoric like the kind spread by Libs of TikTok inspires an “extremely volatile” type of paranoia and a downright “vigilante spirit.”
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