Online knitting site bans posts supporting Trump

A niche social media website devoted to knitting is banning posts supporting President Donald Trump, claiming the content amounts to advocating for white supremacy.

"We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy," the website Ravelry announced on Sunday. "Support of the Trump administration is undeniably support for white supremacy."

Ravelry, which has 8 million members, said the ban applies to forum posts, user profiles, and knitting projects, including patterns shared over the website. Trump supporters are still welcome on the platform, "you just can't talk about it here," the service said.

"We are definitely not banning conservative politics. Hate groups and intolerance are different from other types of political positions," Ravelry explains in its new policy.

The site was founded in 2007 and has become a platform where people can share and sell their yarn-made projects. However, knitting can get quite political. Past projects on the Ravelry site include woven hats that say "Trump 2020," "USA MAGA," and "Keep America Trump," all of which have been deleted.

Ravelry is refraining from banning users for past Trump support. Nor will it delete anyone's knitting projects from the site. "If you are permanently banned from Ravelry, you will still be able to access any patterns that you purchased. Also, we will make sure that you receive a copy of your data," it said.

The ban comes as the larger social media platforms try to balance free speech against abuse. Democrats argue the services have done too little to stop hate speech and misinformation while conservatives accuse the same platforms of censoring political opinions.

Ravelry says its "not endorsing the Democrats nor banning Republicans." It also warns users against antagonizing conservative members on the site. Ravelry added that its new "no-Trump" policy was taken from RPG.net, a forum for role-playing games, which in October banned posts supporting Trump.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.