Shopify - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

Shopify is High Risk.

Shopify is High Risk. The company yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders. Shopify embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues. This approach fails to safeguard free exercise, free speech, and free enterprise.

Rating Criteria

Corporate Weaponization Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Cancellations	High Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	Lower Risk
Employment Protection	Medium Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	Medium Risk
Funding	High Risk
Political Actions	Lower Risk

Corporate Governance and Public Policy ⓘ

Rating Criteria Detail

Criteria Risk Level Rationale

Corporate Weaponization

Criteria:

Has canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

In 2017, Shopify refused to remove the conservative news site Breitbart from its platform, despite pressure to do so, due to CEO Tobi Lutke’s decision to protect “free speech” (1). However, it suddenly banned most firearm manufacturers and dealers from using its platform the following year (2).

Criteria:

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

Shopify does not discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or beliefs. The company allows customers and stores using its service to donate through rounding and independent matching, respectively, and these programs do not exclude religious organizations (1).

Criteria:

Employment policies fail to protect against viewpoint or other discrimination and/or are ideological in nature.

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

Shopify does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

Uses corporate reputation to support causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

Shopify published an article promoting LGBTQ-owned businesses (1). The company also published an article supporting carbon removal and publishes climate reports encouraging carbon removal to “help reverse climate change” (2)(3). Otherwise, it has not supported ideological causes or policies (4).

Criteria:

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Shopify has pledged $1 million to the Black Lives Matter movement and related causes, including Campaign Zero (1)(2)(3). In 2019, the company launched its Shopify Sustainability Fund, which “includes an annual commitment to supporting projects that work to combat climate change.” It has spent over $32 million on carbon removal purchases and $55.7 million in contracts with 39 carbon removal suppliers to “help reverse climate change” (4)(5)(6). The company is also a corporate partner of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (7). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of the company using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (8).