Apple Blocks Apple Pay on White Nationalist Sites and Hate Groups
Apple Pay has joined the rest of big-name tech platforms that have pulled support from white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the alt-right sentiment online. Hate groups and white nationalists have found out that their Apple Pay support has been disabled by the online payment platform, leaving them unable to process sales of their online wares through the service.
Apple has just confirmed on Wednesday, Aug. 16, that they have removed Apple Pay support for several websites that sold merchandise promoting white nationalist agenda and Nazi imagery.
This move came in the wake of the Charlottesville rallies the past weekend which resulted in the tragic death of a woman, who was killed when a car drove into a crowd of anti-white nationalist protesters.
Sweaters with Nazi logos, shirts with "White Pride" emblems, as well as a bumper sticker showing caricatures of a car hitting a crowd of activists will no longer be sold by a few websites through Apple Pay, the company confirmed to BuzzFeed News on Thursday, Aug. 17.
Among those retail sites affected by Apple's move are small online outlets including American Vikings and Vinland Clothing.
Apple has no other comment on the matter as of this time, although a company representative referred news outlets to Apple Pay's guidelines, which indicates that users may not use the payment platform for any site and/or service that "promotes hate, violence, or intolerance based on race, age, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation."
The owner of American Vikings called himself "a civic nationalist," and while his site sold "White Pride" shirts and anti-protest bumper stickers, he considered his online shop as just a hobby.
"I don't know the legalities of free speech on a website or if you own a hosting company... but if you run a business you have a right to decide who or not you do business with," site owner Brien James said.
"If they don't like me, they don't have to do business with me," he added, noting that his site accepts PayPal payments as of this time.
