You won’t find James Harr or the company he founded on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or other social media platforms. Because? In the wake of the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Harr revealed a plan to sell a deck of playing cards with CEO faces on them. As detailed According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, online platforms systematically removed Harr and ComradeWorkWear from their services following the card’s revelation.
In the United States there is a proud tradition of putting your political or military enemies on playing cards and selling them to the people. During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Defense Intelligence Agency produced a card game which contained photographs, names and identifying information about US targets in Iraq. You can buy a deck on Amazon right now made by the playing card giant Bicycle.
Also on Amazon is a deck of cards featuring Russian politicians and media figures dressed in prison attire. It is called the “Hague Court” deck and costs about $12. Elsewhere on the Internet you can buy a deck of “COVID’s Most Wanted”, which includes such illustrious figures as Anthony Fauci and CEOs Jeff Bezos, Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg. Some of the lists even include the phone numbers, email addresses and social media links of the “most wanted.”
But a generic list of CEOs on the cards? That was a bridge too far for some of these platforms.
Harr announced the deck on December 14, 2024. A archived version from ComradeWorkWear shows the cards. The 52-card deck had a photo of the CEOs, the name of their companies and a QR code that would take curious people to a page explaining why the CEOs were evil. The backs of the cards featured a target silhouette, the type sold in gun stores across the United States.
Harr promoted the deck on his various social media platforms. The New York Post saw this and published a front page article about the cards under the title “Whacked Deck.” Twisted CEO Hunting Card Game” on December 15.
On December 17, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch held up a copy of The Post newspaper. during a press conference and condemned the deck of cards. “Yesterday, the New York Post reported that some extremist activists were circulating a deck of cards with other CEOs most wanted for assassination,” he said. “These are the threats of a violent, lawless mob that would trade its own vigilantism for the rule of law that protects us all.”
After the press conference, Harr began losing access to his personal and business accounts on social media sites. His TikTok, Instagram and YouTube accounts disappeared. YouTube tells users it’s because that account has “violated community guidelines.”
Harr didn’t receive much communication from the platforms he did business with. On December 20, Paypal, Shopify and Apple Pay cut off your access. According to EFF, Shopify told him it was due to “offensive content” and that the decision “was made by our banking partners.”
All over the social network, people are openly talking about the deaths of people they hate. Luigi Mangione is glorified, Ted Kaczynski is praised, and people on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war share gruesome memes glorifying violence. You can buy a deck of playing cards “Gaza’s most wanted” on Instagram. Shopify stopped doing business with Harr, but continues to sell “COVID most wanted” decks, which include many of the same CEOs and their personal information.
Moderation is not distributed equally.
