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Sticker Mule CEO Claims He Was Banned From Reddit — But He Wasn’t

Posted on by darion

Print-on-demand company Sticker Mule made headlines in July after a failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. The company sent a message to its mailing list and social media platforms saying that “the hatred for Trump and his supporters has gone too far.”

The emails and social media offered $15 off T-shirts to show support for Trump and called for less resentment toward the former president and his supporters.

“People are afraid to say they support Trump,” read the email, signed by company co-founder Anthony Constantino. “I was afraid myself.”

The news sparked anger from liberals and centrists who said it was ridiculous and unprofessional for the company to promote a political message through its business channels.

Now Constantino claims the company is in trouble on Reddit.

Is not.

The company began re-publishing posts this month for the first time in seven years and has removed some of its recent posts from some subreddits.

Constantino believes this could have a big impact on traffic to the company’s website.

“Google uses Reddit as its primary search signal. Banning Reddit limits our ability to rank well on Google and grow financially. This ban is yet another example of discrimination against Trump supporters,” Constantino claimed in a video the company posted on its social media pages.

Earlier this year, a Google executive admitted (and later deleted) that posts on Reddit tend to rank high in search results.

Constantino said the ban is especially embarrassing because Sticker Mule has worked with Reddit in the past by printing stickers for the company.

However, his recording is more of a show of boastfulness than genuine interest.

Constantino did not immediately respond to Daily Dot inquiries.

The user’s account had been dormant since 2017, when two weeks ago the user attempted to post on r/Stickers, a 57,000-member subreddit that has had a Sticker Mule policy in place since the first pro-Trump posts were posted on the site.

“Due to recent behavior and controversy at StickerMule, we will no longer be supporting their content and advertising on the subreddit. Alternatives can be found in (this) sticky thread,” the forum’s sidebar reads.

The post by Sticker Mule was removed by moderators, as were similar posts in subscriptions like r/startups, r/NewYork and r/Albana

Subreddits, however, are self-regulating, with esoteric rules and regulations for posting on each. If a user or brand is banned from one, they won’t be banned from the entire site.

Sticker Mule’s account is still active on the site, which means it has not been banned.

The r/Stickers moderator did not immediately respond to questions about whether he had permanently banned user Sticker Mule from posting on the forum or simply deleted his posts.

Since Constantino publicly entered politics in July, he has regularly posted pro-Trump content on the company’s social media pages, including a message after the last assassination attempt on him in September.

In that post, Constantino called on Hillary Clinton to apologize for calling Trump voters deplorable and on Joe Biden to apologize for “cheating on good people.”

“The sooner people come forward and make statements apologizing and explaining that they have provoked hatred against Trump under false pretenses, often for their own personal gain, the sooner we will solve this problem and have a happier United States and world,” Constantino wrote after reciting a long list of celebrities who he believes should apologize to Trump.

In early September, Sticker Mule also posted an official endorsement of his site, writing that Trump is a “president for maximum global happiness.”

“One of the great tragedies of the last eight years is that millions of people have lost the chance to laugh with the funniest president of all time while enjoying a growing economy, world peace, and so many other benefits,” Constantino wrote.

While some posters have expressed support for the shift towards Trump, not all commenters appreciate it.

“I’m sure this will help him get into office. Hey, the #10,000 sticker company in America supports Trump,” one person replied. “At the same time, all the politicians are ordering their campaign stickers from China.”

“It doesn’t matter what your political views are. Keep them a secret,” wrote another. “Keep your business separate from your politics. Smh.”

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