Following action from Campaign Against Antisemitism, a popular app allowing people to design their own graphics has removed an antisemitic meme from its platform.
The “Happy Merchant” meme, also known as the “Smirking Merchant”, is believed to have been created in 2001 and depicts a Jewish man with heavily stereotyped facial features who is greedily rubbing his hands together. The image has become widely used online by white supremacists and antisemites.
The Art Lab app, which has over 100,000 downloads on Google Play, is branded as “a versatile free graphic design app,” with its website stating: “Art Lab makes photo & design editing amazingly simple and fun. Design everything you need quickly and effortlessly. Design posters and banners for social media marketing, Instagram story & highlight cover, logos, business cards, birthday invitations & wedding invites.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The antisemitic ‘Happy Merchant’ meme is often used by neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Such repugnant imagery has no place on an app like this. We understand that the owners of the Art Lab app were unaware of the graphic’s presence on its platform, and we commend them for their swift and decisive action to remove the image as soon as we brought it to their attention.”
T-shirts featuring the meme have reportedly been sold by Jon Minadeo II, the founder of the Goyim Defence League (GDL). The GDL has been described as an antisemitic hate group whose membership reportedly contains several neo-Nazis. The group is divided into regional branches and regularly distributes antisemitic flyers across the United States.
Last year, a former Belfast City Councillor posted the well-known antisemitic meme on Gab, a platform favoured by the far-right.
