Senators Take On PayPal’s Attempt At Being The Arbiters Of Free Speech

Earlier this month, PayPal attempted to place sanctions on those who spread “misinformation.” The response from many indicated that PayPal was attempting to blur the lines between impersonating a court, and stealing. As a result of the inevidable public outlast, Paypal quickly went back on their initial decision.

Evidence of PayPal’s decision to attempt to implement arbitrary fines on people comes from their own updated guidelines, “sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials” which qualify as misinformation. This means anyone spreading claims about anything not approved by PayPal, (or any of the always reliable “fact checkers”), would be subject to a $2,500 fine by PayPal, without a court or due process even being considered. This, of course, violates the First and Sixth Amendments, which guarantee you both the right to freedom of speech, and the right to a fair trial by your peers – not some interns at PayPal.

Originally, before PayPal reversed their initial decision, the updated policy was set to go into effect on November 3rd. 

The Daily Wire reports:

Members of the Senate requested more information from PayPal about a retracted attempt to sanction users $2,500 for spreading “misinformation” through the platform, as highlighted by a report from The Daily Wire.

PayPal, which has de-platformed multiple organizations and commentators for their political views, had unveiled an upcoming change to its acceptable use policy that would have banned the promotion of “misinformation,” as well as “hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory.” Within one day of The Daily Wire reported on the policy change, PayPal claimed that the guidelines were published “in error.”

Citing the report from The Daily Wire, Sen. Tom Tillis (R-NC), Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), and five Republican colleagues pressed PayPal CEO Dan Schulman in a letter asking him to explain the “processes and values” in place that allowed the retracted policy to move forward.

“PayPal has consistently spread the dubious claim that this provision was ‘never intended to be inserted in our policy as stated by a company spokesperson,” the lawmakers wrote. “If accurate, this statement indicates an astonishing lack of internal oversight at PayPal.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) told The Daily Wire that PayPal has not yet provided responses to the lawmakers’ inquiries, which they requested by October 28.

The lawmakers requested information about internal processes at PayPal for drafting and vetting acceptable use policy updates, the identity of the party which drafted the misinformation and hate speech clause, and the degree to which users can be confident that they will not be punished for the spread of what PayPal unilaterally determines to be misinformation.

Other platforms, such as Amazon, Twitter, and Facebook, have sanctioned conservatives over their positions on controversial social issues, including transgenderism, vaccine mandates, and homosexuality. GoFundMe seized millions raised for trucker protests in Canada earlier this year, while Google recently began suppressing search results for crisis pregnancy centers.

While the issue of social media censorship isn’t an immediate danger to your life – it is one of the most pressing political issues currently. By no means is it a fair game to have the left be allowed to use immensely powerful technology like social media, while the right has to bite their tongue and go along with mainstream media lies simply to stay online. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., all move together. If the creator is popular enough, once you’re banned on one, you’re banned on all of them. This can occur even if the offense didn’t take place on a particular site. Now, on top of censorship, big tech companies such as PayPal seem to feel a duty to steal your money.


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