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eBay and Shopify pull listings on Jeffrey Epstein-inspired merch

eBay and Shopify pull listings on Jeffrey Epstein-inspired merch

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Amazon has kept listings live

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T-shirts and other merchandise inspired by convicted sex criminal and financier Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide are challenging online platforms’ moderation policies. Some eBay listings, which were live as recently as this morning, depicted a painting Epstein reportedly kept in his home. Sellers listed shirts and mugs with prints of artist Petrina Ryan-Kleid’s Bill Clinton painting, in which Clinton wears a blue dress and red heels that’s vaguely reminiscent of the outfit Monica Lewinsky wore during an encounter with the former president.

eBay told The Verge that it’s taken down multiple listings related to Epstein, largely as a result of its human tragedy policy. “eBay does not tolerate the sale of any item that seeks to profit from human suffering or tragedy,” the company said in a statement to The Verge. “This listing was removed as it was in breach of our Disaster and Human Tragedy policy. Our teams have been closely monitoring the marketplace to remove items of this nature. It’s also worth noting that any customer can use the ‘report an item’ link on a listing page to have it promptly reviewed.”

Other original merch has sprung up on Instagram posts, and those posts have been allowed to stay on the platform. Although the posts encourage followers to check out an external site, the content still benefits from Instagram’s algorithms and can spread within the app. Instagram says in a comment to The Verge that the content “doesn’t violate our policies and wouldn’t be removed if reported.”

eBay says the merch violates a human tragedy policy

Shopify has dropped service to at least one site offering Epstein-themed apparel and said the shop violated their acceptable use policy.

Amazon lists a similar policy to eBay’s and doesn’t allow merch designs that “depict a human tragedy, are directly connected with a tragedy, or treat human life satirically.” But multiple listings advertise Epstein-themed tees, in apparent violation of the policy. Amazon has left these listings up and declined to comment to The Verge.

One listing includes a shirt depicting a reticle focused on Epstein with both Bill and Hillary Clinton next to him. It features a hashtag: #ClintonBodyCount.

It’s not the first time user-generated T-shirts have put platforms in a difficult position. In February, Square, Chase, and PayPal stopped allowing payments to a Proud Boys-adjacent online store. More recently, the merch creation service Bonfire shut down 14-year-old far-right creator Soph’s merch store after she was removed from Patreon and YouTube. But in each case, the concern was more about T-shirts as a fundraising tool than the content of the shirts themselves, making the incidents less than useful as a precedent.

Update 8/19, 5:20 PM ET: Updated to include Instagram’s comment.