Court documents have revealed that Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify paid Kenneth Law nearly 149,000 dollars between 2020 and 2023 in proceeds from selling toxic products and suffocation equipment to vulnerable people around the world. Law, a former hotel cook, has pleaded guilty to aiding over a dozen suicides.
According to evidence presented in an Ontario court, Law openly sold lethal materials through his Shopify online stores including a toxic salt and what he called an exit mask to buyers as young as 16. He kept shelves full of his lethal products at his home near Toronto ready to be shipped to customers worldwide.
Some families of victims uncovered torn up receipts while others found emails linking their loved ones' deaths to Kenneth Law and the technology platforms that helped him sell materials for suicide. The case has raised urgent questions about the responsibility of online platforms in preventing harm.
University student Tom Parfit was just 22 when he died after purchasing materials from Law. His family has called for greater understanding about the harms that can be attributed to internet platforms and the need for stronger protections for vulnerable users online.
Benjamin Cone died just weeks before Law's scheme was uncovered. His family noted that if Law had been arrested even a month earlier, their loved one might not have been able to buy the lethal materials that ended his life.
Shopify has declined to say when it shut down Law's online stores or whether it proactively monitored his activities despite Law openly boasting about selling lethal products and even sharing messages about buyers who had died. The company reportedly posted his sales and processed payments without intervention.
Legal experts say Canadian law likely will not hold any company criminally responsible in this case, as prosecutors would need to demonstrate that someone in senior management at Shopify was involved in or at least failed to prevent the offence. The case nonetheless highlights the growing tension between platform liability and the potential for online services to facilitate serious harm.