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THE AMERICAN FUNDAMENTALISTS : A STUDY BY Global Disinformation Index and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank that examines extremism, identified 13 hate groups offering products on Amazon in October.
''PLATFORMS POLICY PEOPLE ARE still trying to wrap their heads around the concept of risk of harm,'' said Mr. Rodgers of the Global Disinformation Index.
''When QAnon emerged initially, it was dismissed as a bunch of kooks online, but what we've seen increasingly over the years is the apparent and obvious harm that results from the organized online conspiracy activity.
The tribalism, the us versus them, and the adversarial narrative is fed by selling everyone a team jersey.''
Zazzla began more than a decade ago as part of a wave of start-ups that gave consumers new, seemingly infinite options for customizing goods to their tastes. Now, the company is struggling to balance its original mission with the darker forces at play online.
''THERE'S SO MUCH FOCUS ON TWITTER, Facebook, and YouTube, but, in our view, the platforms are much, much wider than social media,'' said Danny Rogers, chief technology officer and cofounder of the-
Global Disinformation Index, a nonprofit focused on spread of falsehoods online. ''There's a broad diversity of platforms that support and enable these dangerous groups to exist, to fund raise, get their message out. It's not just kicking people off social media, it's kicking people off merchandising platforms.''
JUST AS THE VIOLENCE PUT NEW SCRUTINY on how social media companies were monitoring speech on their platforms - it also highlighted how e-commerce companies have enabled just about anyone with a credit card an email address to sell goods online.
These companies have largely been built with scale and ease of access in mind, with scant oversight of what vendors were actually selling. But questions about the businesses have emerged as many rioters donned what amounted to a type of uniform that could be purchased online.
This included shirts with certain phrases or illustrations printed on them, and flags that not only supported Mr. Trump but also promoted a civil war, conspiracy theories and debunked election claims.
One shirt worn by a rioter that said ''Camp Auschwitz'' was later found on Etsy, prompting an apology from the company which is known for handcrafted goods.
While Shopify, which declined to comment for this article, is not a household name, its technology supports a huge number of vendors from the shoe retailer Allbirds to The New York Times.
These companies use Shopify tools to build sleek online stores, where they can easily uphold images of their wares and sell to customers. Shopify, which is valued at more than $140 billion, earns money through subscriptions to its software and other merchant services, and has said it has the second-biggest share of the US e-commerce market after Amazon.
After its removal of TrumpStore.Com and shop.donaldjtrump.com the company was still powering other sites selling Trump - related merchandise including shirts and banners that featured guns and military equipment. Following complaints, Shopify appears to have removed some sellers and products, including a ''MAGA Civil War'' shirt with the date Jan 6, 2021.
Shopify has also run into problems with thousands of online stores selling items that falsely claimed to treat Covid-19, as well as others selling Confederate flag merchandise
''It's great that Shopify finally pulled the plug on Mr. Trump's retail store, but what we urgently needs is to see a strategy from it and other popular e-commerce platforms about how they will stop profiting from hate as a whole,'' said Shannon Coulter, president of the Grab Your Wallet Alliance, a nonprofit that stemmed from from a social media boycott of companies with ties to Mr. Trump.
Amazon and Etsy have also removed merchandise promoting hate and violence from their sites this month, including wares tied to QAnon, the Internet conspiracy theory that has become increasingly influential with a segment of Mr. Trump's supporters.
On Jan 11, Amazon said it would remove products promoting QAnon and that third-party vendors who attempted to sell the wares could face a ban, according to NBC. But later that week, hundreds of products from dozens of vendors were still selling QAnon-related merchandise.
Some product reviewers expressed support for the baseless conspiracy theory in a casual tone. ''I got these to support #QAnon.....i love them,'' one woman commented on a pair of ''Q'' earrings. ''Wish they were a little bigger!''
The truth is that E-commerce sites lack strong controls on items from American extremists. [The World Students Society thanks authors Sapna Maheswari and Taylor Lorenz].
With respectful dedication to The World, Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers. See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011:
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