Salesforce says it has taken action against the RNC, but won’t say how

Salesforce has “taken action” to stop the Republication National Committee (RNC) from sending emails that could incite violence, though the company won’t say what that action is. The RNC is using ExactTarget, a Salesforce tool, for campaign emails.

The move, first reported by Motherboard, comes after the Trump campaign sent an email urging supporters to “step up RIGHT NOW” and “defend the integrity of this Election” shortly before the breach of the US Capitol on January 6th.

Salesforce confirmed to The Verge that it hasn’t dropped the RNC as a client. “The Republican National Committee has been a long-standing customer, predating the current Administration,” a spokesperson said. “We have taken action to prevent its use of our services in any way that could lead to violence.”

The enterprise software company declined to elaborate on what action it has taken and whether the mysterious measure would affect the Trump campaign, as well as the RNC.

Before the attack, the Trump campaign sent emails saying the election was rigged and the results needed to be overturned. The campaign sent 569 emails between November 3rd and January 6th, including four emails the morning of the breach, Motherboard reports.

Each email asked supporters to donate money to the campaign. While it’s not known how big the ExactTarget email list was, in 2018, the Trump campaign reportedly had contact information for 20 million supporters.

The RNC told Motherboard that it had ‘independently’ decided to stop its digital fundraising efforts on January 6th. The following day, another email service — Campaign Monitor — suspended the Trump campaign’s account. That alone would make it harder for the campaign to raise money.

Social media platforms are also taking action against Trump in the wake of the attacks in DC. On January 7th, Facebook blocked the president indefinitely, and at least until Joe Biden’s inauguration. The following day, Twitter permanently banned Trump’s account.

The news from Salesforce isn’t quite so decisive. Perhaps, like Campaign Monitor, the company is making it more difficult for Trump to fundraise. We can’t know for sure, because Salesforce won’t answer our questions.