On April 11, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) located a shop on the
print-on-demand platform Spring (formerly Teespring) selling merchandise suppor


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CEP Impact: E-Commerce Site Spring Removes Storefront For Imprisoned Austrian
Neo-Nazi Rapper

 

(New York, N.Y.) — On April 11, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) located a
shop on the print-on-demand platform Spring (formerly Teespring) selling
merchandise supporting and monetarily benefitting Austrian neo-Nazi rapper
known as “Mr. Bond,” a.k.a. Philip Hassler. Less than two weeks prior, an
Austrian court sentenced Mr. Bond to10 years in prison
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violence and glorifying Nazism, which is a criminal offense. CEP promptly
reported the store to Spring, and the platform responded by removing it.

 

Spring’s responsiveness to CEP is the latest demonstration of how the
combination of subject matter expertise combined with quick and knowledgeable
content moderation can be used to disrupt funding mechanisms used by the
extreme right. This is especially important as print-on-demand e-commerce sites
have previously been used multiple times by right-wing extremists to raise
money and spread their message.

Screenshot of Spring after the Mr. Bond store was taken down

 

The products sold in the store included shirts and other merchandise
containing a white supremacist symbol and a support hashtag. Product
descriptions for the merchandise include a link to a support page for Mr. Bond,
which in turn linked back to Spring.

 

According to Spring’s Acceptable Use Policy
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the platform does not “allow campaigns that promote or glorify hatred toward
people based on their age, race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender
identity, sexual orientation, disability and religion, including people,
organizations or symbols dedicated to hatred against these groups.”

 

Since his initial release of music in 2016, Mr. Bond has produced numerous
white supremacist songs and compilations. His music was featured by the Halle,
Germany synagogue shooter during his attack which was livestreamed on the
Amazon-owned Twitch platform. The shooter told a German court that he had
selected Mr. Bond’s work as a “commentary on the act.” Mr. Bondreportedly
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attacker and has additionally shown particular interest in the Christchurch
attacker.

 

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