Shopify CEO attempts to defend continued hosting of Breitbart’s online store

Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke responded to allegations that his company continues to host Breitbart’s online store after giving the alt-right news site a “final warning” in 2016.

Lutke’s comments were met with criticism by those who view Breitbart as a purveyor of hate speech, including Brianna Wu, a software developer and congressional candidate in Massachusetts.

“Your platform supports some of the most vile businesses on the internet,” Wu wrote. “I thought you used to care about your brand being viewed as morally neutral.”

“We’ve given [Breitbart] final warnings several times that we will shut them down if there’s illegal activity,” Lutke continued. “We have zero tolerance for illegal activities or advocating any form of hatred.”

The response came in the form of a lengthy blog post titled “Lowering the Bar,” where he defended the e-commerce platform’s stance on free speech and what type of content it would allow on its service.

The response came in the form of a lengthy blog post titled “Lowering the Bar,” where he defended the e-commerce platform’s stance on free speech and what type of content it would allow on its service.

“We don’t like Breitbart, but products are speech, and we are pro free speech,” Lutke wrote. “That means protecting the right of organizations to use our platform even if they are unpopular or if we disagree with their premise, as long as they are within the law.”

Free speech, Shopify argues, protects the expression of an idea even when that idea is unpopular.

“We believe that censoring sites is a very dangerous road to start down and is one we have no interest in taking part in,” Lutke wrote. “The internet has always provided a space for people who can’t be heard in traditional media channels. The result, as you have seen over the past few days, is that voices from both sides of the political spectrum use Shopify to run their online stores.”

In November 2016, Breitbart published an inflammatory article criticizing the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which then prompted SPLC president Richard Cohen to send Lutke an email asking him to stop doing business with Breitbart.

In November 2016, Breitbart published an inflammatory article criticizing the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which then prompted SPLC president Richard Cohen to send Lutke an email asking him to stop doing business with Breitbart.

“We hope that you agree that there should be no room in our society for organizations that use hate speech to promote intolerance, discrimination and violence,” Cohen wrote in his letter.

On Nov. 17, 2016, Lutke responded to Cohen via email advising him that he had given Breitbart a final warning and would be kicked off its platform if it continued to publish similar articles about SPLC.

“We are giving Breitbart a chance to make changes to their site,” Lutke wrote in the email. “If they fail to do so, we will terminate them as a customer.”

In his first email back to Lutke, Cohen responded by thanking him for his outreach and noting that the SPLC would not be issuing a statement this time around given that it was confident that Shopify had taken its concerns seriously and would act on them if needed.

Fast forward almost two years and Shopify continues to host Breitbart’s online store.

This all happened nearly two years ago, but the issue has been resurfacing. Shopify continues to provide infrastructure for Breitbart’s online store, which has become a political statement unto itself. Under pressure, Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke published a blog post defending his company’s decision to continue hosting Breitbart’s online store. Unfortunately, this post lacked clarity—in fact, it added more confusion to an already confusing situation.

Because of this lack of clarity, let me attempt to clear up the topic in my own words:

Shopify hosts Breitbart’s online storefront because Shopify believes that censoring content on its platform is dangerous and goes against its mission of making commerce better for everyone. This stance aligns with Shopify’s First Amendment right to host any content it wants (unless illegal). However, even though Shopify believes censorship is wrong, it still holds the right to remove Breitbart from its platform at any time should it so choose. Furthermore (and perhaps most importantly), just because Shopify believes censorship is wrong does not mean that Shopify or its CEO think that other people who disagree are wrong as well. In fact, Tobias Lütke stated he personally disagrees with Breitbart’s stances and beliefs and hopes they fail (which I also hope). But he still supports their right to have a voice—even if he thinks they’re an idiot for using it (which I do not think).

I hope you found this extended explanation helpful in clarifying the issue surrounding Shopify hosting Breitbart’s online store.

Shopify will keep hosting Brietbart despite its own CEO’s feelings about the company.

Shopify will continue to host Brietbart even though its CEO doesn’t like the company. The Canadian e-commerce company said Tuesday that it will not drop Breitbart from its platform, despite CEO Tobias Lütke’s strong disapproval of the far-right website and his concerns about how it uses Shopify.

“We don’t like Breitbart, but products are speech and we are pro free speech,” Lütke said in an internal memo to Shopify employees that he shared online. “This means protecting the right of organizations to use our platform even if they are unpopular or if we disagree with their premise, as long as they are within the law.”