Crowdfunding Alternative BackerKit Bans Hypergamouse Comic From Arkhaven Comics and Vox Day Over "Associations"

BackerKit is showing it's going to make the same political targeting mistakes many other failed companies have before in the crowdfunding space, but Arkhaven continues on.

Several crowdfunding alternatives have popped up recently because of user frustration with IndieGoGo and Kickstarter. One of those platforms is BackerKit, best known for its back-end fulfillment tools until it decided to jump into the crowdfunding arena this year. Now, BackerKit has shown that it is perhaps the worst of politically targeted harassment, with the banning of Vox Day’s Arkhaven Comics and his comic book, Hypergamouse.

Hypergamous is an innocent comic with slice-of-life situations featuring anthropomorphized mice. Much like classic newspaper strips, Hypergamouse often has entertaining commentary and good punchlines, nothing that anyone could consider offensive. Artist Lacey Fairchild ensures the comic is completely clean and fun from a visual perspective.

Backerkit, however, took exception upon having a print edition crowdfunded on their platform:

Subject: Important Message from BackerKit Trust & Safety
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2024 18:17:14 +0000
From: BackerKit Trust & Safety trustandsafety@backerkit.com
Reply-To: trustandsafety@backerkit.com

Hello,

We are writing to inform you that after a thorough review of your project submission, BackerKit will not be able to approve your project “Hypergamouse Volume 1” for launch on our platform. This decision is based on documented association with content that violate our platform’s Crowdfunding Rules and Community Guidelines.

Specifically, BackerKit prohibits offensive material, both on-platform and off-platform, including hate speech, content promoting harm, discrimination, bigotry, or intolerance toward any marginalized or protected groups. Our guidelines state that we do not permit content or creators that engage in personal attacks, harassment, or the promotion of harmful ideologies, including those that may be seen as discriminatory.

This decision is final. If you have further questions, you may submit an inquiry at trustandsafety@backerkit.com or in an email response here.

Regards,

—
Dave Alvarez-Villalpando
Head of Trust & Safety @ BackerKit.

The irony of the post banning a project for “association” is that BackerKit hosts a myriad of projects, and a cursory look into the creators could reveal some questionable associations.

Brandon Sanderson recently crowdfunded a book on their platform, for instance. Tor Books published Sanderson, and Tor Books had a problem in 2013 with an employee accused of sexual harassment. Under these guidelines, Brandon Sanderson would be “associated” with something that violates their Community Guidelines as per the below paragraph’s listing of off-platform “harassment” as part of their stated terms of service.

BackerKit has not reached out to ban Brandon Sanderson as of this writing.

When it comes to nebulous terms like this and banning based on associations or even “promotion of harmful ideologies,” it’s easy to see that there are, in fact, no standards being upheld. It’s simply political targeting and harassment of Arkhaven Comics.

One would think that in 2024, with so much competition out there, a company would know better than to cut off so much potential audience at this point by trying to make political stands over comic books. However, it looks like BackerKit has not yet learned this lesson.

What do you think of BackerKit banning Hypergamouse and Arkhaven Comics from Vox Day? Leave a comment and let us know.

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