The CEO of major online retailing platform Shopify deleted a post detailing the company's commitment to free speech this week as the company began purging gun-related retailers.

Tobias Lutke explained his company's previous position allowing any retailer that did not violate the law was "too idealistic and functionally unworkable on the fast moving internet."

Lutke, the Washington Free Beacon reported, said that going forward, Shopify "will have to make decisions based on judgement (sic)."

"Solely deferring to the law, in this age of political gridlock, is too idealistic and functionally unworkable on the fast moving internet," he wrote. "The legislative process is no match for the realities of the internet and has ground to a halt on contentious issues."

He argued issues such as hateful content "remain legally undefined."