# Why it might be hard
Trust in our platform is essential to building for the long term. It's core to our relationship with entrepreneurs, and it's fundamental to the success of our ecosystem.
From our earliest days, we've been deliberate in building a platform where merchants of all beliefs, backgrounds, and perspectives are included and have the opportunity to start and build a business. We do this because we believe that a world where entrepreneurship is easy and common is better than a world where it is not. By making our platform open to everyone, we accept a wide mix of merchants: some whose work we find inspiring, others whose views we may personally disagree with. The reality is that we exist within a world of varied perceptions and beliefs.
We have guardrails in place to ensure merchants adhere to the law and our Acceptable Use Policy. Operating an open platform means serving a wide range of merchants, values, and beliefs, and we recognize that comes with tension. It's a tension we're prepared to hold to support the broader benefits that entrepreneurship and commerce create.
🖱 Double click
Stewardship of a platform means making room for differing opinions and staying objective when making decisions. With 99% of stores, this isn't hard; however, some products and content become lightning rods for discussion and debate. Those debates become more contentious when the environment is charged with strong opinions and deeply felt emotions.
Our values show up in how we operate: in the care we put into everything we ship, and in our shared commitment to the work that makes commerce better for everyone.
That commitment holds even as we create space for merchants and employees whose perspectives may differ. Shopify believes in entrepreneurship as a path to independence, in removing barriers to participation, and in leveling the playing field so more people can build the businesses they imagine.
🔥 Holding the tension
Real talk: We won't all agree on every decision or position. At the same time, we expect you to commit to Shopify's mission, including being able to hold this tension and recognize the deliberate tradeoff we're making to enable more opportunity, more access, and more self-determination.
As we grow into new markets, we'll continue to act on our values through how we build the platform. We must maintain a trusted platform for all merchants and create a company where everyone can do their best work.
Like any great experiment, Shopify is a work in progress. We will continue to have open, real, sometimes raw conversations about who we are, and the complexity that comes with this. Ultimately, it's a tradeoff we're prepared to make in service of the greater good we believe we can do in the world.