Mailchimp Shuts Down AFTAH’s Paid Email Account Without Citing Specific Violation

By Peter LaBarbera, AmericansForTruth.News, 2/2/2022

The past year saw the escalating and audacious censorship of conservatives by Left-biased Big Tech corporations, culminating in Twitter’s stunning ban against President Donald Trump a year ago. Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), too, was a target: on September 23, 2021, we received an email out of the blue from Mailchimp informing us that the email distribution company was permanently shutting down AFTAH’s paid email account, which we had had for almost a decade.

As you can see below, Mailchimp cited a general breach of its “Standard Terms of Use,” which contains a proscription of “Hateful Content” (see below), but it did not provide a specific “violation” on AFTAH’s part, i.e., an example of allegedly hateful or discriminatory content. When pressed for such an example by this writer, Mailchimp merely reiterated in a follow-up note that, “We’ve determined that we can’t support this account.”

Below is the correspondence sent by Mailchimp, which was recently acquired by Intuit, with the reply by this writer:

Original email from Mailchimp suspending AFTAH’s account:

This Mailchimp Support ticket was created on your behalf.

The Mailchimp Team (Mailchimp)

Sep 23, 2021, 9:29 AM EDT

Hello Peter,

Your Mailchimp account with the username Americansfortruth (user ID: 9610693) has been suspended for violating our Standard Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policy. Please review our policies for more information on the types of content we don’t allow (mailchimp.com/legal/terms/).

Reply to this email with questions or for information on how to retrieve your data.

–Mailchimp

______________________

AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera’s email response:

Americans For Truth <…>
Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 11:12 AM
to Mailchimp

To Whom It May Concern at Mailchimp:

I was stunned to receive your notice today of an “Acceptable Use” violation by Americans For Truth (user ID: 9610693), leading to my suspension, as I have not even sent out an email through my Mailchimp account in at least a year. Obviously, I will need to acquire my entire mail list (please inform me how to do that), but first I would like to know exactly what constitutes my “violation.” I am extremely disappointed in Mailchimp for this communication, in which you did not even have the decency to tell me what “crime” I had committed. This is the antithesis of good service, and such maltreatment of customers is precisely why so [many] people are leaving companies like yours.

Frustrated and outraged,

Peter LaBarbera
Americans For Truth
—
Peter LaBarbera
Americans For Truth
PO Box 340743
Columbus, OH 43234

AFTAH.org
Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera

__________________________

Mailchimp’s final email response to Americans For Truth:

Mailchimp (Mailchimp)

Sep 28, 2021, 9:26 AM EDT

Hello,

Our Terms outline the acceptable use of our platform, and also state that Mailchimp may refuse service, change eligibility requirements, or suspend accounts at our discretion. We’ve determined that we can’t support this account.

You will be able to log in to your account to retrieve historical data for a period of 48 hours, at which point the account will be locked and inaccessible (mailchimp.com/help/export-back-up-data).

Please log in to retrieve your data as soon as possible.

— Mailchimp

The following is a portion of Mailchimp’s Standard Terms of Use policy relating to alleged “hateful conduct” (emphasis added). Note that given the pro-LGBTQ movement’s and allied “progressives'” penchant for conflating moral opposition with “hate,” the bolded portion on “Hateful Content” could easily provide a pretext for taking action against AFTAH, which (while eschewing all violence against and actual hatred of LGBTQ-identified persons) opposes all pro-homosexual, pro-transgender and Sexual-Left behavior and advocacy as a matter of principle:

Mailchimp doesn’t allow accounts that promote or incite harm toward others or that promote discriminatory, hateful, or harassing Content. To this end, we may suspend or terminate your account if you send a Campaign, create or manage a Site, or otherwise distribute any Content that we determine, in our sole discretion, contains either of the following:

A Threat of Physical Harm. This means any statement, photograph, advertisement, or other Content that in our sole judgment could be reasonably perceived to threaten, advocate, or incite physical harm to or violence against others.

Hateful Content. This means any statement, image, photograph, advertisement, or other Content that in our sole judgment could be reasonably perceived to harm, threaten, promote the harassment of, promote the intimidation of, promote the abuse of, or promote discrimination against others based solely on race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, disease, or immigration status.

We also may suspend or terminate your account if we determine, in our sole discretion, that you are either:

• an organization that has publicly stated or acknowledged that its goals, objectives, positions, or founding tenets include statements or principles that could be reasonably perceived to advocate, encourage, or sponsor Hateful Content or A Threat of Physical Harm;
• a person that has publicly made a comment or statement, or otherwise publicly made known a position, including by membership in an organization as discussed above, that could be reasonably perceived as Hateful Content or A Threat of Physical Harm; or
• a person or organization that has acted in such a way as could be reasonably perceived to support, condone, encourage, or represent Hateful Content or A Threat of Physical Harm.

Mailchimp also does not allow the distribution of Content that is, in our sole discretion, materially false, inaccurate, or misleading in a way that could deceive or confuse others about important events, topics, or circumstances.

If you violate any of these rules, then we may issue a warning to, suspend, or terminate your account.