Why Not Shopify?

Shopify is the default for many stores, but its leadership actively funds and supports the far-right movement.

Leadership matters

Shopify's CEO Tobias Lütke embraced far right-wing political ideas^[1], including publicly attacking striking workers and positioning himself as "anti-union."^[2] He sits on Coinbase's board of directors^[4], which helps explain Shopify's continued push into cryptocurrency, despite the industry scamming people out of billions of dollars^[3]. He's publicly supported Elon Musk's DOGE^[5] (Department of Government Efficiency) and has been cozying up to Canada's far-right political movements^[6].

DHH (David Heinemeier Hansson) joined Shopify's Board of Directors^[7] in November 2024. He wrote a blog post complaining that London is now only "a third native Brit,"^[8] obscuring that he meant white British (the actual census shows 36.8% "White British" plus 17% "White: Other"). He praised Tommy Robinson^[9], a far-right agitator with multiple convictions for violent offences. Shopify largely funds his project Rails, spreading those values through the Ruby community.

Shopify's COO Kaz Nejatian co-founded and funded a hard right-wing media group^[6] called True North with his wife.

When asked about hosting Breitbart's online store (an extreme right-wing media organization), Lütke defended the decision^[10] under a "free speech" principle. When controversy erupted over extremist anti-LGBTQ+ influencer Libs of TikTok and merchants selling Nazi memorabilia on Shopify^[6] in late 2022, the company refused to take action.

Shopify gutted its diversity and inclusion programs^[11], laying off employees responsible for Build Black, Build Native, and social impact initiatives. In 2025, nearly 400 tech leaders signed an open letter condemning the cuts.

These actions tell you what kind of company Shopify is and who they think matters.

Our values

At Easel, we're aggressively intolerant of intolerance. We're proud to work with:

• LGBTQ+-owned businesses (with particular emphasis on supporting trans-owned businesses)
• People of color-owned businesses
• Union-led organizations and worker cooperatives

We release everything under the AGPL license because we believe software should serve the commons, not extract value from it.

Commerce built with integrity

References