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Shopify took down Kanye West’s online store after the musician sold T-shirts with the swastika symbol.
West, who also goes by Ye, advertised his online store in a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday, directing viewers to his website, where the only item listed was the swastika T-shirt.
Though Shopify removed a policy banning sellers from hosting “hateful content” last year, the e-commerce giant removed Ye’s store on Tuesday, days after the Super Bowl ad appeared. Shopify reportedly shuttered the storefront because of the potential for fraud, and not because it was selling a Nazi T-shirt, according to an internal memo seen by The Logic, a Canadian tech publication.
“All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them from Shopify,” the company told TechCrunch in a statement.
Within the past week, Ye made several antisemitic posts on X, proudly proclaiming that he is a Nazi and does not “like or trust any Jewish person.” He praised Adolf Hitler, then wrote, “I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent” before his account was deleted.
TechCrunch asked X if Ye deleted the account himself or if it was deleted by the platform; X did not comment.
However, X has set the precedent that Holocaust denial, praise of Hitler, and support of Nazis are allowed on the platform. TechCrunch found an example of an X creator with 200,000 followers who uses Shopify to sell products glorifying the Auschwitz death camps and espousing Holocaust denialism.
While Shopify removed Ye’s swastika merch, the other antisemitic shop remains on the platform; Shopify did not return TechCrunch’s request for comment on why that shop has been allowed to remain.
Additional reporting from Maxwell Zeff.
