Exactly. I wish I could like your comment more than once. Big stores will be able to say almost anything. However, the rest of the peons, you have to listen to their rules, or else. The wording wasn’t hard to understand, I am not sure why anyone is confused. It said you can’t say anything against the “protected class.” So, if you want to say degrading things about men, go ahead, but don’t you dare say anything about women, they’re protected. If you want to say degrading and defiling things about Jesus, go ahead, but don’t say anything against any other religious figure, they’re protected. If you want to say horrible things about Americans, or be anti America in general, go ahead, but don’t say anything about illegals, they’re protected. If you want to say horrible stuff against pro life people, go ahead, but don’t you dare say anything about the “anti life” people, they’re protected. If you want to degrade straight people, go ahead, but don’t say anything about the alphabet community, they’re protected. The wording was very simple, I thought. In other words, get in line. I see way more pro trump stuff on Etsy, and they had to do something quick….they had to fall in line, and they will expect the majority of their stores to do that, but the top 10%, they will not have to worry about it.

@@MissMolly3377 Nailed it exactly. Just another form of the same censorship we've been seeing for the last 4 years. (longer than that, but the last 4 years have been undeniably obvious to those who want to see). Etsy has been taken over by the same ones who run most everything, and this is the outcome. More to come.

Ditto. They should be paying attention to copyrighted stuff and to drop shippers using etsy. Meanwhile, they completely took out one of their top sellers because they owed $7 from an old shop they forgot about and which they paid after finding out what was wrong. That shop was all original handmade stuff and they didn’t even bothered to tLk to the owner???

Well it is a business first and foremost. You don't want to tell half your market to go pound sand.

That’s not how the first amendment works.

The 1st Amendment protects you against any potential government retaliation when it comes to freedom of speech but those protections do not extend to privately owned businesses, organizations, or citizens. Hence why if someone walks into a Target and starts harassing people for any reason, they can be evicted and banned from the premise.

No, I mean, it’s their platform, so they can do whatever. Having said that, what it will ultimately end up being is…you will still be able to make fun of one side, but not the other, similarly to Amazon, you will still be able to post all the degrading isht you want, concerning all the hot button issues, but don’t you dare have a differing opinion. Same with religion, they will still allow degrading, demoralizing stuff about Jesus, but don’t you dare say anything about any other religious leader…that is hate. Now, I am not a Trump supporter, nor a Biden supporter, because I see it for what it is, a way to keep us divided, nothing more, nothing less, but I am also not blind to the fact that one side is definitely silenced more than the other. Don’t be pro American, pro Christian, pro first or second amendment, etc….because you will be kicked off, but if you are pro abortion, pro feminism, pro any other country, except American, you’re good to go. I mean, I guess we will have to wait to see, but I certainly won’t hold my breath. Ultimately, the best thing, really, to do, in this case, start your own website, and allow what you want. I mean “protected class,” that should tell you all you need to know….some groups are protected, while others are not. I’m glad this happened, I was just getting started and, now, it just encouraged me to start my own website…and I am not even in the political niche, but the more stuff that comes out this year, and last year, about Etsy, what type of company it really is, it doesn’t support its sellers, that is for certain.

I would never hire etsy. They're known to take businesses down for no reason. Even successful ones. I would strongly advise against this platform

Anytime Etsy does this, this close to a major upcoming event, always looks like a money grab for their biggest clients or sellers and a way to clean house in that niche. They do stuff like this around Q4 all the time it insures their biggest investors make the money not the little guy. Example if Martha has political kitchenware in her shop I bet it won't get removed. But that is just my opinion from what I have seen over the years, we won't know for sure until much later down the road.

@@arczealdesigns9512Exactly what I was thinking. I guarantee they will leave offensive stuff up if it is demoralizing and degenerate, if it is being sold in their biggest seller’s stores. The whole thing that got me about the video is…you can’t say anything about a “protected class.” Just a couple examples…I guarantee if there is anything up about men, that demoralizes men, it will continue to fly, but don’t you say anything about women, they’re protected. You can demoralize or make Jesus a degenerate, but don’t you dare do that to any other religious figure, they’re protected. You can say all you want about straight people, but don’t you dare make anything against the alphabet community, they’re protected. Say all you want about Americans, but don’t say anything about illegals, they’re protected. I have been curious about Etsys policies on political stuff, I figured they had already been anti right pro left, but I figured if they weren’t, it was coming, especially this year. You’re right, we will have to wait and see, but I won’t hold my breath.

Yes, it's not super clear, but I'm sure that is intentional :-)

I'm sure they want to avoid controversy in general. I'm sure people with more anti-Trump/pro-Biden content are getting pinched too.

That seems to be the direction their headed. Avioding controversy...by causing controversy haha

Etsy is just another platform arbitrarily censoring items that don’t agree with their narrative….labeling them as “harmful” when an item obviously is not. Another free speech selling platform is in high order.

Up oh…my comment keeps disappearing. I have no idea why??

@@CrystalClearVisions KZfaq comments are notoriously janky

hahaah I think most people should be over the wounds infliced by Nixon running for office at this point.....but you never know!

I have an entire shop that's geared toward politics

awwwww....thank you :-)

Government is Public Domain - which means free to use.

@@virtualwhispers Incorrect, and despite being public figures, politicians do still retain control over their likenesses, to a certain degree. You can't just print off Donald Trump shirts and expect to be able to sell them without licensing them. Even satire is regulated to a certain degree when monetized.

@@Canoby It says - any work created by a federal government employee or officer is in the public domain, provided that the work was created in that person's official capacity.- Materials produced by federal agencies are in the public domain - Just not State or Local government

@@virtualwhispers Right, but a person’s likeness is not a “work”; furthermore running for office (even re-election) is not considered to be part of one’s official duties. This statute has no legal relevance to what is being discussed.

@@Canoby Well, I'll stay away from that lol

What about it?

I can see them having a problem with firearms content....or as I refer to it...2nd amendment content.@@brandcreators

@@brandcreators I wonder if they consider that political.

@@juice0618Why is that an issue? It’s literally a part of our governing documents. My God.

I think we'll find out soon

RGB is not political at all, if the Supreme Court is truly non-partisan....

It’s simple. What is hard to understand about what they said? They said you can’t speak about the “protected classes.” For example, you can say degrading stuff all day long about men, but don’t say anything about women, they’re protected. If you want to degrade Jesus, go ahead, but don’t say anything about any other religious figure, they’re protected. If you want to put up horrible stuff about Americans, or anything anti American, go ahead, they will sell it all day long for you, but dont you say anything about illegals, they’re protected. If you want to say anything horrible things about the pro life people, go ahead, but don’t say anything about the anti-life people, they’re protected. If you want to say degrading things about straight people, go ahead, but don’t say anything about the alphabet community, they’re protected. It isn’t a thin line, at all, it is a very prominent line. They didn’t stutter…they said “protected class,” it’s simple, you will get in line, or your store will be closed.

I have an Alabama state themed logo. Etsy approved the shirt...but hasn't approved the coffee mug as of today (Currently Deactivated). Same exact logo!

I had a vintage National Airlines travel poster advertising Havana and they said it violated their policies! 😅😂

It's in the Seller Policy.

It's certainly a legal grey area when we're talking about commercially sold products; it might be worth consulting a trademark/copyright lawyer, and then maybe checking with Etsy themselves (and any printing partner assuming you're not printing etc. these yourself). Making political t-shirts is still entirely legal; it's just Etsy deciding they want to limit how much of them get sold on their site. Etsy is its own private company, remember.

Staire is typically protected BUT with the new language in the TOS, if it's even close to controversial, it could be a problem.

It’s not hard to understand, at all, listen to the language…for instance “protected class.” What they’re saying is simple….unless you’re a huge store making Etsy millions of dollars, then you will get in line. See, they will allow the big stores to do as they please, the people who will be hurt by this is the smaller stores, so the top 10%, they’re okay, but if you don’t fall into that, the, here are the rules…. If you want to say horrible things about men, go ahead, but don’t say anything about women, they’re protected. If you want to say something horrible about Americans/America, go ahead, but don’t say anything about illegals, they’re protected. If you want to say terrible things about the prolife movement, go ahead, they love it, but don’t say anything about the “anti-life” movement, they’re protected. If you want to say something about straight people, go ahead, but don’t say a word about the alphabet community, they’re protected, if you want to say degrading and horrible things about Jesus, go ahead, but don’t talk about any other religious figure, they’re protected. This isn’t hard to understand at all. Now, it is their right to do what they want, they’re a private company, so the best thing to do, start your own store. I looked at political stuff the other day, and there is tons of pro trump stuff, so they had to get in line. I’m not a trump supporter, or Biden supporter, I was just curious what their political products, and, honestly, I was quite shocked to hear this video, today….I figured Etsy was already a far left platform, but what I was seeing, when I searched stuff, they seemed to allow more than Amazon, so I was shocked by that. However, this video just proved to me that Etsy was told to get in line, and if you’re not in their top 10%, and you’re more conservative leaning, and selling anything related to politics, or any of the hot button issues…you’re screwed.

You bet!

So from a more general perspective.....you don't EVER want to be everything to everyone and will in fact sell more by putting your stake in the ground. This seems to have more to do with Etsy as a whole trying to avoid being pulled into the news cycle.

That seems to be the line they are trying to walk.

It’s only going to worry about “hate speech” concerning the “protected class.” Meaning, if you want to say something against men, go ahead, they will sell anti men stuff all day long, but don’t you dare say anything against women, they’re protected. If you want to make degrading stuff about Jesus, go ahead, that isn’t “hate speech,” but don’t you dare say anything against any other religious figure, they’re protected. If you want to say something against straight people, they’re all for it, but don’t you dare say anything about the alphabet community, they’re protected. However, they won’t stop their big sellers, only the smaller sellers, the majority of people on there, is the ones who will be hurt.

I would just be careful and listen to what Chris says in the video about what Etsy is really concerned with.

Yeah, I’d be careful, if it is pro Biden, you will be okay, if it’s pro Trump, I’d probably be careful. And, I’m not a Trump supporter, or a Biden supporter, they’re both part of the show, but it will hurt the people who do support them, blindly, and I don’t want to see anyone be hurt (successfully), on either side, because they’re fed this stuff, by the media, all day long. I wish more people would wake up. Here is what got me…the whole “protected class” BS. So, in other words, if you want to make stuff against men, go ahead, but don’t make anything against women, they’re protected. If you want to make anything that is degrading, against Jesus, go ahead, but don’t you dare make anything against any other religious leader, they’re protected. If you want to make something that is anti American, go ahead, but don’t you dare talk about illegals. If you want to make something degrading against straight people, go ahead, but don’t you dare mention the alphabet community, they’re protected. It is their platform, so the best thing to do in this case, make your own store, because Etsy doesn’t care, one iota, about its sellers, well about most of its sellers, if you are a massive seller, they will allow you to sell what you please.

There are lots of things with the "mugshot" on them already, so who knows haha

Nothing is "Banned" but hot button issues seem to have much less protection than they did before.

hah maybe!

Yes. I looked up political stuff the other day, and the majority of it was pro trump, so Etsy had to get in line. Don’t worry if you’re one of their top sellers, though, Etsy will fall in line, until it messes with their bottom line…they will allow these big sellers to sell what they want, just look at all the trademarked stuff, those big stores, selling Disney and all of that, they never shut down, so they will allow the bigger stores to do as they p,ease, but the other 90% has to fall in line, or lose their store.

It's just that Pro Biden stuff sells less haha