Teespring claims it’s working on changes to ensure potentially harmful merchandise does not reach its platform in the future.
After the custom merchandise producer and selling platform was found to be offering offensive neo-Nazi merchandise that made light of the Holocaust, Teespring told WWD that it is “in the process of making further changes to prevent these designs from reaching the platform.”
The company would not specify what the changes are, but said it already has “both human and automated review systems to flag and remove designs which violate our policies and community guidelines.” However, those review systems appear to have failed in the months before the “Camp Auschwitz” apparel was discovered and made public on Sunday by social media users seeing the clothing on perpetrators of last week’s pro-Trump attack on the U.S. Capitol building. As of Monday evening, there were also a number of pro-Confederate pieces of apparel, even a tote bag and a coffee mug, that could easily be found on the site.
Teespring said today, “We categorically do not allow or condone any content which promotes racist, anti-Semitic, or hate speech messaging, including the neo-Nazi designs currently circulating online. Anyone uploading this type of content will be swiftly and permanently banned from our platform.”
View Gallery
Related Gallery
The Year of Ox Capsules Collections
“We are continuously striving to improve our systems and processes in detecting and removing this content and will continue to make adjustments based on current events, as well as feedback from our community,” the company added.
A representative did not respond when asked how it would prevent anyone banned from coming back to the platform under another name. The company also today unveiled a rebrand as “Spring,” noting it has amassed 450,000 sellers and is looking to pivot more toward merchandise for social media influencers. The company is already available on TikTok through an earlier integration.
Searches for the “Camp” apparel occurred after last week’s attack in Washington, D.C. Many of those who took part in the violent assault on the Capitol were seen sporting various neo-Nazi and white supremacist symbols and slogans, as well as such things aligning them with the pro-Trump and far-right conspiracy group known as QAnon. Since the attack, social media platforms like Twitter have begun to crack down on the proliferation of that group.
But this is not the first time the San Francisco-based Teespring has been called out for producing and selling offensive and racist merchandise. Last year it was found to be doing so for Proud Boys merchandise, the far right neo-fascist group, and other merchandise that was pro-Confederacy. It took much of that merchandise down, along with that supporting Antifa, the left-wing, anti-fascist and anti-racist group. Teespring said at the time, “We are not a fascist company.”
For More, See:
Shopify Deactivates Trump Stores After D.C. Riot
Twitter Permanently Bans Trump From Platform
Google Giving $3M in Grants to Fight COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation
Source: Read Full Article