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Commentary: If You Have a PayPal Account, Seriously Consider Closing It Immediately—Company to Debit Money from Users for ‘Misinformation’

Commentary: If You Have a PayPal Account, Seriously Consider Closing It Immediately—Company to Debit Money from Users for ‘Misinformation’

PayPal recently notified users they may be sanctioned up to $2,500 for promoting “misinformation” over the internet or if the company determines they “present a risk to user safety or wellbeing.”

This from westernjournal.com.

The amendments to their “Acceptable Use Policy” will take effect on Nov. 3.

 

The full list of “Prohibited Activities” can be viewed HERE.

 

The update states that:

Violation of this Acceptable Use Policy constitutes a violation of the PayPal User Agreement and may subject you to damages, including liquidated damages of $2,500.00 U.S. dollars per violation, which may be debited directly from your PayPal account(s).

Note: The determination of what constitutes misinformation is up to the “sole discretion of PayPal.”

And therein lies the slippery slope. We might expect PayPal administrators to find unwelcome any news about a candidate or issue with which they disagree and thus it will be deemed misinformation?

This company’s latest bow to the god of wokeness is just one more targeted attack against conservatives.

PayPal is trying to deprive conservatives of a voice and punish us financially for what we say.

He said:

Under existing law, PayPal has the ability as a private company to implement this type of viewpoint-discriminatory policy.

Whatever motivation PayPal has for establishing these vague new categories of prohibited expression, they will almost certainly have a severe chilling effect on users’ speech.

As is often the case with ill-defined and viewpoint-discriminatory speech codes, those with unpopular or minority viewpoints will likely bear the brunt of these restrictions.

Jeremy Tedesco, vice president of corporate engagement at Alliance Defending Freedom, told The Daily Wire:

These kinds of policies are unwise, threaten free speech, and invite legal risk.

When companies apply policies to restrict the religious speech of their customers, they could run afoul of prohibitions on religious discrimination that exist in many state and federal laws.

Tedesco explained:

Whatever PayPal’s intentions may be, censorship and chilling free speech is precisely the effect of these kinds of vaguely worded policies.

We’ve seen social media companies use similar policies to stifle free speech on their platforms. We can expect a similar outcome with PayPal.

Corporations have been veering into some dangerous territory recently in the name of social justice.

Crowdfunding platform GoFundMe came under intense scrutiny in February following management’s decision to freeze an account established to provide funding for the “Freedom Convoy of 2022” protest in Ottawa, Canada.

Following a major backlash from donors in America and Canada, the company agreed to return all donations.

Their decision to withhold the funds was undemocratic by anyone’s standards.
It was not a good look for a company whose website touts its ability to provide individuals and organizations in financial need with ‘trusted fundraising for all of life’s moments.’

And it’s not a good look for a company that operates an online payment system used by companies and individuals of all political stripes.