Below, I’ll ask those donors who give through PayPal to switch to other services if they can.
PayPal announced beginning on 3 November they will begin stealing money from user accounts PayPal purity police deem objectionable. After an uproar, they kinda sorta walked it back, saying they didn’t mean to say what they just said.
According to one report on the initial language:
[PayPal] will expand its “existing list of prohibited activities” on November 3. Among the changes are prohibitions on “the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials” that “promote misinformation” or “present a risk to user safety or wellbeing.” Users are also barred from “the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory.”…
Deliberations will be made at the “sole discretion” of PayPal and may subject the user to “damages” — including the removal of $2,500 “debited directly from your PayPal account.” The company’s user agreement contains a provision in which account holders acknowledge that the figure is “presently a reasonable minimum estimate of PayPal’s actual damages” due to the administrative cost of tracking violations and damage to the company’s reputation.
This move comes as no surprise to any of us. I’ve said a hundred times that official misinformation must have some agency in charge of policing it. And here it is, one arm of the enforcement division.
PayPal likely hired a crew of fat tattooed severe-rim-glasses-wearing odd-smelling dead-eyed blue-haired gender-confused censors to monitor user accounts and identify “outrages”. Or maybe they’ll just ask the ADL who the “haters” are.
One wonders whether these purity policeman will get a cut of the money PayPal steals from accounts? Offering them a percentage would certainly increase their zeal.
I’m ignorant of the law, but, morally, this is clearly theft. Legal theft, apparently:
“Under existing law, PayPal has the ability as a private company to implement this type of viewpoint-discriminatory policy,” [said] Aaron Terr, a senior program officer at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression…
For those who don’t know, PayPal allows users to link their PayPal accounts to their normal bank accounts. When paying for things using PayPal, users can draw from their PayPal or normal bank accounts.
Thus, when PayPal steals money from user accounts, if they still will, if there are insufficient funds in the PayPal account, PayPal can automatically withdraw money from the normal bank accounts to make up the difference.
In other words, PayPal will likely steal not only the money in users’ PayPal accounts, but in their normal bank accounts, too.
Now believe it or not, dear reader, but being a dissident on the internet who relies on donations does not pay so well that we can ignore $2,500. It is, even in this inflation, a lot of money.
So I am forced to begin closing out my PayPal account, before they get to me. I’d imagine, since I’m only a small voice, they wouldn’t get to me first, but they certainly might eventually. It’s too much to take the chance.
I realize they walked back their initial money grab, but that doesn’t mean the correction, whenever it comes, won’t be just as bad. In any case, the company can no longer be trusted.
I will be reaching out to donors who currently use PayPal and beg them, if they are able, and ask them to switch to other methods. Don’t worry if you can’t. And apologies to all for putting them through this inconvenience.
Right now, I have Donorbox and Zelle (use matt@wmbriggs.com). I also have all posts mirrored on Substack, and will turn on the ability to donate there, too. I am still reluctant to put regular content behind a paywall, because I’m well aware that not everybody can afford it.
I’m looking into other methods, too. When I figure them out, I’ll put them in the new signature line. (Like an idiot, I hard-coded these into posts, so the PayPal links will still exist, but soon will cease to work.)
Subscribe or donate to support this site and its wholly independent host using credit card click here. For Zelle, use my email: matt@wmbriggs.com. PayPal can no longer be supported because they promise to steal from user accounts accused of “hate”.
It is rich that they justify the move saying that telling the truth-as-hate -like when they say evangelization is hate or questioning the holocaust (or whatever)-, that telling the truth -or expressing yourself or throwing a hypothesis in any field- will damage their reputation. No one can harm your reputation, you idiot, you did it yourself long ago, you crushed it, and, now, you just pulverized it!!!!
”In any case, the company can no longer be trusted.”
No longer?! — canceled my PayPal at least three years ago over some similar egregious affront. PayPal is a tentacle of Victim Power Total Global Dictatorship, Inc.
Build and patronize alternative platforms — starve the Beast.
I plan to distribute the rather small amount I have in my underused paypal account to worthy causes before closing the account.
Aaron Terr, a senior program officer at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression…
FIRE is such a disappointing organization. They are constantly hobbled by their rabid libertarianism. “If it’s not the government infringing on your liberties, then it’s totally okay!”
This war won’t be won by boycotts. That’s FIRE’s solution (Build your own platform/payment processor/internet!).
CFO: can’t stop the hole in the bank from swelling any longer; CEO: put a strain on users’ accounts.
Kind regards,
pensioned CEO & CFO
since I’m only a small voice, they wouldn’t get to me first, …
Someone’s taking copious notes:;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
https://www.desmog.com/william-briggs/
Do you know (of) anyone who fit your description? If you do, pray that they don’t read this. If you don’t, this is not funny.
It’s your choice. Talking about irrational fears and panic! Perhaps, everyone has a different fear, be it due to COVID or possible fine for spreading misinformation by a business entity (Paypal apologized).
Maybe Musk will buy Paypal. LOL.
PAY
Progressives
Are
Yaffs
PAL
Progressives
Are
Looters
“Someone’s taking copious notes:;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;”
Interesting that their “team” includes nobody with any scientific expertise. They’re all simply advocates and activists.
https://www.desmog.com/about/
I wonder where their funding comes from. No doubt it’s pristine, sainted money, not like the dirty money of people who oppose them.
From Wikipedia:
“The site’s co-founder, James Hoggan, is president of the Vancouver-based public relations firm James Hoggan & Associates, chair of the David Suzuki Foundation, a trustee of the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education, and an executive member of the Urban Development Institute. He is the author (with Richard Littlemore) of the 2009 book Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming (ISBN 978-1-55365-485-8), which criticizes global warming denial and conspiracy theories. The sources do not identify the site’s other co-founder.[20][6][21][22]
“The website names John Lefebvre as a benefactor. Frequent contributors to the blog include Ross Gelbspan and Richard Littlemore. Littlemore is a science writer who formerly worked for the Vancouver Sun. The site’s project manager was Kevin Grandia, who left to become the Director of Online Strategy at Greenpeace . As of 2018 the site is now managed by Brendan DeMelle.[20]”
A PR firm, you say? People who run PR firms are, of course, notorious for their commitment to truth and justice.
John Lefebvre appears to be a crank, but maybe a crank with money. Though I am certain their funding runs deeper than him.
JH
Did PayPal apologize to Gays Against Grooming?
Yes! PayPal apologizes at the drop of a hat ONLY when they get enough pushback
Here’s a good post on PayPal by someone who could also be affected by PayPal’s CANCELLATION
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/paypal-apologizes-for-policy-notice-saying-users-could-face-242500-fines-for-misinformation/ar-AA12MXlB
He’s against the “Boycott” / “cancellation” – I understand his concern and much of what he writes about is being done – it just won’t be an immediate effect.
PayPal has been showing what it wants to do and can do for a long time, now.
Nothing irrational about the fear … nobody is panicking … they are acting
Crap! Linked the wrong post:
https://spectator.com.au/2022/10/paypal-punished-for-spreading-misinformation-about-itself/
One of his other recommendations:
… pressuring the government … Just what we need when the Government itself is pressuring conservatives
John b(),
Don’t know and don’t care.
All,
PayPal stock tanking today. Loving it.
https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1579474749163700230
You have surfaced something that is bothering me a lot. If I have a bad experience with Chevy, I can go to Ford and lose, effectively, nothing. I have found no service that does what PayPal does — not even close. I am hoping this is my ignorance and some person here can propose something else. There are bits and pieces (Zelle is owned by equally bereft banks, Venmo is owned by PayPal anyway) but PayPal actually provides useful stuff. Hard to imagine that no one has created a competitor, but maybe that is the case. Hoping someone smarter than I has some words (or links) of wisdom.
Doc
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/101415/4-best-alternatives-paypal.asp
Many of the ten alternatives include other woke techs but some may be worth investigating
Somebody mentioned Musk
Elon Musk did not start PayPal. The company started by Peter Thiel, Luke Nosek, Max Levchin, and Ken Howery was Confinity – a software company that was working on security software for Palm Pilots. PayPal was a product that they developed and launched a few months before Elon Musk started X.com, an online banking company. The two companies, who were competitors of sorts, merged a few months later and used the X.com name. This was later changed to PayPal. Close enough that he may be considered a founder in some people’s eyes.
When Ebay acquired them a couple years later, Musk got something around $180 M for his shares.
“PayPal’s former president David Marcus slammed the policy in a tweet on Saturday, saying the new policy “goes against everything I believe in”.
“A private company now gets to decide to take your money if you say something they disagree with. Insanity” Marcus tweeted.
Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla Inc chief who co-founded PayPal, tweeted “Agreed”, replying to Marcus’s tweet.”
Expect the “theys” will not allow such to happen.
God bless, C-Marie
It would be interesting to know the backstory here. As MarketWatch describes it: “apparent plans for a misinformation policy were mistakenly published”. What does that mean, mistakenly published? Are they lying, and there was no mistake, but rather a quick retraction when the new policy landed like a ploop in the crapper? Or was it like the SCOTUS leak, with an insider trying to ring the alarm bell early? Or, as conservatives suspect, was the misinformation policy simply a work in progress that was truly accidentally released prematurely? Nothing I’ve read so far mentions any consequences, such as someone getting fired, so make of that what you will.
Boycotting PayPal is one way to fight back. Another way would be to look at this as class-action-bait, where even the process is a punishment.
Ok, ok, I’ve created and deleted PayPal accounts several times in the past, and I’m not making much use of PayPal at the moment, maybe it’s time to delete the account again, I can always create another one if a need arises. Let’s see how hard it is to do . . . huh, looks easy enough, which is rather surprising . . . well, ok, there’s a small recurring subscription transaction for a local-interest group newsletter, and it was a royal pain to get that set up since it’s all volunteers with high turnover, I better let that sleeping dog lie. I’ll have to settle for shaking my fist at them, I guess.
As far as donations, I would donate to more people/groups if I could do it truly anonymously, like dropping a fiver in a jar. (Although, admittedly it would be nice if I could write some random digits on the bill, and later check the charity’s website to see if that number is on their list of receipts.) Despite it’s promise, digital payment is a technology area still in it’s infancy, or maybe even still in the womb. I did a patent disclosure back in the 90’s for my employer at the time, describing a simple system with (pretty good, but not perfect) anonymity; it was even suitable for use as email postage, to eliminate spam. Here we are a quarter-century later, and there is still nothing I would use, despite enormous advances in the underlying technologies (including technology for perfect anonymity). All the inventors in this area seem to have an axe to grind, like a hatred for fiat currency, or insist on structuring their system to make themselves rich. I no longer believe a digital currency that I would personally agree to use will appear in my lifetime.
Don’t worry Briggs. JH never donated to you anyway, despite having PayPal, which imagines their name makes them a Pope of some kind that infallibly defines hayte and Mrs. Information, and to whom JH turns to in order to learn whom he should continue never sending money to anyway.
Paypal, Twitter: never
Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon: never again
Google, Apple: nope
Advice for the internet: leave as small a footprint as possible, which I am not doing now.
This is almost inconceivable arrogance. These a-holes have decided they will punish me by taking my money if I write something somewhere they don’t agree with? Their function is to transfer money from one person to another. That’s it. Who the hell do they think they are? Screw them, whether they actually follow through or not. Screw them for thinking they have the right to do this.
I understand that PayPal have withdrawn the new rules and the proposed fine saying that it was a mistake and was not authorised. {If you believe that….}
Since they have now are guilty of ‘misinformation’, can we look forward to them fining themselves $2,500?
The banks are all run by the same group.
There is no bank that can “push back” against these people.
Ask Lindbergh.
Just got this email today:
What is the GabPay App?
The new gabpay App is a Person to Person payment network. The new app allows users to instantly transfer money from nearly any bank account in the United States to anyone or any business with a cell phone or email*. NOW COMING SOON TO 140 COUNTRIES!
https://www.gabpay.com/
I have a small positive paypal balance so I removed the credit card and bank acct info and will cancel the acct itself as soon as I have spent the money.
Users are also barred from “the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance… and materials” that “promote misinformation”.
So basically they will be targeting BLM, CRT, most political speech, and re-posts from cable news, right? Then that’s a good thing. 😉