That’s what happened to Alex Jones of InfoWars, who found the mail messaging platform terminating his accounts on the grounds of “hateful conduct.” Last Monday, Jones displayed a document that he received from the company in a live stream broadcast saying that they had removed his account for violating their terms of use; Media Matters for America confirmed the action a day later.
MailChimp said that it does not normally comment on specific account closures, but they felt the need to speak up in this case. They wrote in his statement: “We don’t allow people to use our platform to disseminate hateful content. We take our responsibility to our customers and employees seriously. The decision to terminate this account was thoughtfully considered and is in line with our company’s values.”
They didn’t define their “company’s values,” but this is probably code for political views and can mean whatever they see fit when they want to silence someone. Meanwhile, the definition of “hateful content” listed in their terms of service is somewhat vague and is left to their “sole judgment,” which means it’s essentially whatever they want it to be – making the rules up as they go along, in other words.
Tech companies appear to be united in wanting to silence conservatives
MailChimp joins a slew of tech companies that have been targeting the controversial right-wing host in recent weeks – some of them on the same day in what some believe was a united effort. Google, Apple, Facebook, Pinterest, Disqus, Flickr and Spotify have all banned or closed his channels in recent weeks. You can find a growing list of companies that have “declared war on free speech” by banning Jones and the InfoWars website.
Twitter appears to be the remaining holdout. Although they said that Jones has not done anything to violate their rules, they’re reportedly working on revising the rules, and it’s possible they’ll be rewritten in such a way that allows them to exclude him.
Jones called the move “Kafkaesque,” and he also likened getting kicked off of LinkedIn to “being sent to the electronic ghetto.”
Even if your opinions aren’t quite as controversial as Jones’s, you could still find yourself suddenly losing your MailChimp account. The Terms of Use on the MailChimp site state:
You or MailChimp may terminate the Agreement at any time and for any reason by terminating your MailChimp account or giving notice to the other party. We may suspend the Service to you at any time, with or without cause.
As you can see, they clearly state that they can close accounts without cause, so you’re basically taking a gamble when you use the service. While prorated refunds are offered for terminations without cause, paid accounts will not receive any type of refund or reimbursement if closed for cause, such as a breach of the Agreement – which they go on to say can be changed at any time. They also reserve the right to lock users out of their account if they are involved in a dispute.
Earlier this year, MailChimp banned cryptocurrency advertising on the grounds that it violated their Acceptable Use policy. Will your account be next?
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