California AG Rob Bonta and the City of New York were joined by a bipartisan coalition of 24 AGs in sending a letter to Shopify Inc., urging the company to crack down on merchants using its e-commerce platform to sell illegal e-cigarettes and other unlawful tobacco products. The AGs allege that many Shopify-hosted sellers offer unapproved e-cigarettes, including some sellers that have received warning letters from the FDA.
In the letter, the coalition acknowledges Shopify's past responsiveness when California previously identified unlawful sellers, but stresses that the scope and persistence of illegal online e-cigarette sales require more comprehensive, proactive efforts to identify and remove non-compliant merchants from the platform.
The letter highlights the public health risks posed by illegal e-cigarette sales, especially for youth, and requests a meeting with Shopify to develop a coordinated solution.
We have previously reported on AG enforcement actions against unlawful e-cigarette sellers, including coordinated bipartisan efforts against companies selling flavored disposable e-cigarettes.
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Shopify Inc. (Shopify) is a Canada-based global commerce company. The Company provides essential Internet infrastructure for commerce, offering tools to start, grow, market and manage a retail business of any size. It provides platforms and services that are engineered and delivers a shopping experience for consumers online, in store and everywhere in between. Its software enables merchants to run their business across all of their sales channels, including Web and mobile storefronts, physical retail locations, social media storefronts, and marketplaces. The Company's Shopify platform provides merchants with a single view of their business across all of their sales channels and enables them to manage products and inventory, process orders and payments, fulfill and ship orders, build customer relationships, source products, leverage analytics and reporting, and access financing, all from one integrated back office. The Shopify's platform operates across 175 countries.
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