Buzzfeed reports Apple is disabling Apple Pay support on websites selling White supremacist-related merchandise.
On Wednesday, Apple confirmed to BuzzFeed News that it had disabled Apple Pay support for a handful of websites that sold sweaters with Nazi logos, T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase “White Pride,” and a bumper sticker showing a car plowing into stick figure demonstrators. Following Saturday’s Charlottesville demonstrations, where one woman was killed by a car driven by a white nationalist, the iPhone-maker blocked three white nationalist sites from using Apple Pay.
Apple removed Apple Pay capabilities from a number of websites, including AmericanVikings.com and VinlandClothing.com, the latter of which sells apparel with Nazi logos.
Apple Pay’s “acceptable use guidelines” say users may not incorporate its payment service into a site that “promotes hate, violence, or intolerance based on race, age, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.”
Apple’s moves come in the wake of a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. During the rally, protestors and counter-protestors clashed over the removal of a statue of Confederate leader Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville’s Emancipation Park. One person was killed and 19 injured when a car was driven into a crowd of people.
Other companies have also been cracking down on white supremacist organizations, as PayPal has also removed payments support from similar sites. Uber, Facebook, Twitter, and others have been working to prevent white nationalist activity on their sites and platforms.
