It seems Paypal, after inserting both feet firmly into its corporate mouth, is trying to backtrack and do damage control.
“An [Accepted Use Policy] notice recently went out in error that included incorrect information,” a PayPal spokesperson said. “PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy. We’re sorry for the confusion this has caused.”
Uh-huh. Suuuuure.
"This language was never intended to be inserted in our policy" - but it was inserted. (I'm obliged to Karl Denninger for downloading and preserving that copy of its proposed new policy version.) What's more, Paypal's a major corporation. It has bushels of lawyers, layers of management, and (presumably) guidelines under which any changes to its policies have to be signed off by multiple levels of control, all the way up to the top. Under those circumstances, you'll pardon me if I find Paypal's weasel words to be less than convincing. "Never intended", indeed! Pull the other one, Paypal - it's got bells on it.
This is yet another example of using corporate power for political, partisan ends. Google's doing it by removing and/or censoring blogs that don't toe the party line. Twitter does it by suspending or canceling user accounts. Facebook blocks people for varying lengths of time for saying the politically incorrect thing. Paypal's just the latest "woke" company to jump on the bandwagon.
It's time we took a stand - all of us who value liberty, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression. If we allow faceless corporate drones to act in lieu of - but in reality as agents of - a government that's not supposed to do things like that, then we effectively acquiesce in the neutering of our constitutional rights.
I'm therefore transferring the small balance in my Paypal account to my bank account, and as soon as that's done, I'll be nuking my Paypal account altogether. I can't trust them to be objective and rational in their decisions, and that's a risk I see no reason to incur when I don't have to. I highly recommend that everyone do the same thing. The risk of doing business with Paypal is simply too great to be borne. That also goes for Venmo, which is owned by Paypal. Because of that, I can't trust it either.
A large number of other users are doing likewise. Karl Denninger sums up why they're doing so:
If you have a PayPal account OR ACCEPT THEIR PAYMENT AS A MERCHANT you are consenting to letting them STEAL $2,500 for anything they deem a "violation" without any due process, evidence or proof.
Note that if you linked a bank account they can and will debit the bank account for this and if you keep your account there you're consenting to that.
. . .
Note that "misinformation" can be anything they so-deem and whatever they determine you are bound by. So can anything they deem "unfit for publication" which has no objective definition whatsoever.
. . .
And, note that there is no requirement that the conduct be in any way linked to their services, which have nothing to do with the movement of money, ever, in this regard. Since PayPal is a money transmitter nothing you can send, post or publish has anything to do with the movement of money, which means they can fine you $2,500 for saying that the jabs are dangerous or that there are only two genders no matter where you say it, on what platform you say it or even if you say it in a non-electronic form entirely.
. . .
Close your accounts and under no circumstances EVER do business with these ******** nor EVER hire ANYONE who works for them EVER AGAIN.
There's more in that vein (much more profanely) at the link.
Looking for an alternative? Try Gab Pay. Gab is a social media service that's consistently been solidly free-speech in orientation, even though that means racists and neo-Nazis have flourished there. Gab's solution to that is simple - rather than play the censor, it relies on its users to be adults, and block anyone whose views offend them. I do that almost every time I'm online there. If I come across an anti-semitic or racist user, I block them on the spot. Fortunately, there are plenty of Gab users who are neither anti-semitic nor racist, and I get on just fine with them. Gab Pay is one of the platform's new initiatives, designed to take the place of Paypal and other such services. So far, it looks pretty good. Check it out for yourself.
There may be other alternatives. If any readers would like to suggest one, please do so in Comments. I caution, however, that if it's part of the Big Tech world, it's more likely than not to have "woke" elements in its user policies, and may therefore not be fully trustworthy. Caveat emptor, and all that sort of thing.
As for Paypal, I can only suggest that its shareholders and directors ponder the saying "Get woke, go broke". After betraying their customers' trust like this, that's a consummation devoutly to be wished, IMHO.
Peter
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