PayPal

[rogue06]

Last week PayPal, the online payment system, decided that they were going to start imposing "fines" on members who post "misinformation" which would result in those deemed to be guilty having $2500 per violation removed from their account. It was set to begin next month.

As the company faced the prospect of millions of users emptying their account and never using the service again, the company reversed course and announced to a seething public that they decided not to go through with this plan. At least for now.

They actually claimed the notice "went out in error" and included "incorrect information," adding "PayPal is not fining people for misinformation." Poppycock. Experts say PayPal has had this plan in the works since September 2021, inserting it into their policy since then. All they did last week was announce that they planned on enforcing it.

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From 2021

PayPal has gotten in hot water in recent years over taking money from accounts that they objected to and redistributing them to ones they favored so I'm not sure why anyone was surprised at their announcement.

Personally, I would recommend finding another service, one that doesn't appoint itself morality police of the internet and think they have a right to seize your assets. Anyone no anything about Zelle?

David Marcus, the former President of PayPal decried the decision to start "fining" people for alleged "misinformation" "goes against everything I believe in" adding that "A private company now gets to decide to take your money if you say something they disagree with. Insanity."

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In any case, this particular stunt has gained the attention of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Director, Rohit Chopra, who will be opening an investigation.

After skeptically noting that "I've never actually heard of a payment system thinking that it could fine someone for legal expression that their users are making," Chopra announced that the bureau "needs to look into whether they believe they can be fining users for legal activities."

[Mountain Man]

PayPal has been a sketchy operation since day. They deliberately make themselves look like a bank but without having to follow any of the laws that govern banks for the simple fact that they are not one. They're more like those fly-by-night payday loan outfits than a legitimate financial institution, and they have a long history of arbitrarily freezing customer's accounts and seizing funds with the customer having little if any recourse.

[Sparko]

It is already in their user agreement. The only thing they backed off on was using "misinformation" as an excuse.

PayPal User Agreement:

If you are a seller and receive funds for transactions that violate the Acceptable Use Policy, then in addition to being subject to the above actions you will be liable to PayPal for the amount of PayPal’s damages caused by your violation of the Acceptable Use Policy. You acknowledge and agree that $2,500.00 U.S. dollars per violation of the Acceptable Use Policy is presently a reasonable minimum estimate of PayPal’s actual damages - including, but not limited to, internal administrative costs incurred by PayPal to monitor and track violations, damage to PayPal’s brand and reputation, and penalties imposed upon PayPal by its business partners resulting from a user’s violation - considering all currently existing circumstances, including the relationship of the sum to the range of harm to PayPal that reasonably could be anticipated because, due to the nature of the violations of the Acceptable Use Policy, actual damages would be impractical or extremely difficult to calculate. PayPal may deduct such damages directly from any existing balance in any PayPal account you control.

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mp...agreement-full

PayPal Acceptable Use Agreement:

Last updated on September 20, 2021


You are independently responsible for complying with all applicable laws in all of your actions related to your use of PayPal's services, regardless of the purpose of the use. In addition, you must adhere to the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy. 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) as outlined in the User Agreement (see “Restricted Activities and Holds” section of the PayPal User Agreement).

Prohibited Activities

You may not use the PayPal service for activities that:

1. violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation.
2. relate to transactions involving (a) narcotics, steroids, certain controlled substances or other products that present a risk to consumer safety, (b) drug paraphernalia, (c) cigarettes, (d) items that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity, (e) stolen goods including digital and virtual goods, (f) the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory or the financial exploitation of a crime, (g) items that are considered obscene, (h) items that infringe or violate any copyright, trademark, right of publicity or privacy or any other proprietary right under the laws of any jurisdiction, (i) certain sexually oriented materials or services, (j) ammunition, firearms, or certain firearm parts or accessories, or (k) certain weapons or knives regulated under applicable law.
3. relate to transactions that (a) show the personal information of third parties in violation of applicable law, (b) support pyramid or ponzi schemes, matrix programs, other "get rich quick" schemes or certain multi-level marketing programs, (c) are associated with purchases of annuities or lottery contracts, lay-away systems, off-shore banking or transactions to finance or refinance debts funded by a credit card, (d) are for the sale of certain items before the seller has control or possession of the item, (e) are by payment processors to collect payments on behalf of merchants, (f) are associated with the sale of traveler's checks or money orders, (g) involve currency exchanges or check cashing businesses, (h) involve certain credit repair, debt settlement services, credit transactions or insurance activities, or (i) involve offering or receiving payments for the purpose of bribery or corruption.
4. involve the sales of products or services identified by government agencies to have a high likelihood of being fraudulent.
5. relate to transactions involving any activity that requires pre-approval without having obtained said approval.

https://www.paypal.com/us/legalhub/acceptableuse-full

So they could just claim you are being "intolerant" and charge you $2,500.

Lesson: Don't let your money sit in PayPal's coffers. Remove it ASAP.

[mossrose]

We cancelled our accounts last week.

[seanD]

PayPal has been a sketchy operation since day. They deliberately make themselves look like a bank but without having to follow any of the laws that govern banks for the simple fact that they are not one. They're more like those fly-by-night payday loan outfits than a legitimate financial institution, and they have a long history of arbitrarily freezing customer's accounts and seizing funds with the customer having little if any recourse.

But banks are starting to get into the mix as well. Not only has the ESG fraud become a potential political weapon against financial institutions, but now credit card companies are making political threats. PayPal just seems to be trying to take the ball over the finish line.

[Sparko]

We cancelled our accounts last week.

I have it in order to receive donations for Tweb, but I try to empty it out as much as possible. Most we could lose would be like $50.

[rogue06]

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[CivilDiscourse]

I swear, too many people these days go in on punishing speech. It's scary.

[rogue06]

I swear, too many people these days go in on punishing speech. It's scary.

Thought crimes are very 1984 -- which has become an instruction manual rather than a warning for many of those on the left.

[Sparko]

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Digital? Remember when Canada confiscated ACTUAL funds from people who supported the Truckers blockade?