134913
  • Log in
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Forum
  • Donate
  • Newsletter
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

“PayPal, You Messed With the Wrong Guy”

by Will Jones
22 September 2022 6:13 PM

Laura Dodsworth has interviewed Toby about PayPal’s shocking and “ironic” deplatforming of the Free Speech Union and the Daily Sceptic. In the introduction on her Substack page (which you can subscribe to here) she sums up what makes this latest piece of censorship from the woke tech giant so worrying.

PayPal has closed the accounts of the Free Speech Union, the Daily Sceptic and founder Toby Young’s personal account. Since all three accounts were shut at once and PayPal won’t specify exactly why it has taken this action, it would appear to be a blatant case of censorship.

This is Big Tech bowdlerisation and banditry as PayPal is also withholding Toby’s funds (which it has the right to do) while it decides whether to apply damages. Make no mistake: this is a chilling insight into a world of social credit scores and programmable currencies, where your money can be turned off at the flick of a switch if you don’t behave.

It does not bode well that the Bank of England is consulting with PayPal, among others, about how to develop a CBDC [Central Bank Digital Currency].

Here’s an excerpt from the interview.

How do you feel about it?

I’m really angry about it. How dare they? I’ve had my personal account for nine years and never heard a peep about violating its policies before now. I’ve been paying the 1.5% commission on all transactions without complaint. Where does it get the nerve? To just pull the rug out from under me, with no notice, just accused, tried and convicted all at once, with no possibility of parole. Thank God PayPal isn’t running the criminal justice system!

What are the implications for your organisations and for you personally?

I only used my personal account three or four times a year, although it has more than £600 sitting in it and I can’t get that out. PayPal reserves the right to hold on to the funds for 180 days in case it wants to extract “damages” for violating its Acceptable Use Policy. But the cancellation of the Daily Sceptic and FSU accounts is really serious. About a quarter of the Daily Sceptic’s donors were using PayPal and about a third of the FSU’s 9,500 members are using PayPal to process their recurring membership dues.

Is this an existential threat to what you are doing?

No, we’ll survive. In fact, I think we’ll come back stronger. And the FSU is going to try to get the law changed so PayPal and other financial services companies can’t deplatform other people for expressing political views they disapprove of. I feel like saying to PayPal, “You messed with the wrong guy.”

How will you mitigate the threat?

We’ve had to contact all supporters of the Daily Sceptic and the FSU using PayPal and tell them to switch to a different payment processor. But, inevitably, some of them won’t open the email, some will assume it’s a phishing scam and some just won’t bother to switch. We’ll undoubtedly lose a lot of revenue as a consequence.

What legal action can you take? What are PayPal’s contractual obligations to you?

I’m currently looking into that. More soon. But whatever happens, we’ll make a complaint to the Financial Conduct Authority. 

What sort of company are you in? Who else has this happened to?

It’s happened to Us4Them, the lobby group set up by three mums to try to get schools reopened during the lockdown. The U.K. Medical Freedom Alliance and the Exposé – both have raised reservations about the mRNA vaccines, so that’s probably the reason they’ve been deplatformed – and, in the U.S., Colin Wright, a gender critical evolutionary biologist, and a couple of Left-wing sites that oppose the war in Ukraine, Consortium News and Mint Press. But I’m sure there are many others. In February, PayPal announced it had closed 4.5 million accounts.

Laura provides a helpful list of possible actions for those who’ve had enough of “censorship, deplatforming and the erosion of liberty”. They include:

  • Become a member of the Free Speech Union.
  • Complain to PayPal about this transparently political act of censorship.
  • Write to your MP if you have concerns about censorship, deplatforming and the financial punishment of these websites. As the Bank of England and Treasury investigate the development of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) it’s vital that people’s financial security is protected. Not only do individuals and businesses need protection now from companies like PayPal, but they will need it even more so in an increasingly cashless society. It does not bode well that the Bank of England is consulting with PayPal, among others, about how to develop a CBDC.
  • Share the #BoycotPayPal hashtag on Twitter.
  • Share this article and spread the word.

Worth reading in full (of course).

Stop Press: Toby points out that he has expunged all traces of PayPal from both the Daily Sceptic and the Free Speech Union. So if you’re a donor to the first or a member of the second, there’s no need to change anything unless PayPal was processing your payments. He has already emailed all those affected by the PayPal account closures telling them what they need to do. If you haven’t heard from him, there’s no need to do anything.

Tags: Big TechCensorshipDigital currencyPayPalUKMFAUsForThem

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

If Corporations Are Allowed to Decide Which Opinions are Permissible, then Free Speech is Dead

Next Post

Jacob Rees-Mogg Lifts the Fracking Ban

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

62 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

 

DONATE

PODCAST

Nick Dixon and Toby Young Talk About Toby’s Appearance on the 77th Brigade’s Watch List, the Scrubbing of the Internet After the Pfizer Sting and the Trans Insanity Unfolding in Scotland

by Will Jones
31 January 2023
0

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editors Picks

News Round-Up

5 February 2023
by Nick Dixon

Scientists Discover That Higher Carbon Dioxide Levels are Cooling Many Parts of the Planet

5 February 2023
by Chris Morrison

Vitamin D Cuts COVID-19 Risk of Death in Half, New Study Finds. So Why Isn’t it Recommended?

3 February 2023
by Will Jones

Meghan Markle’s Podcast Is a Classic Example of Get Woke, Go Broke

5 February 2023
by Nick Dixon

Did the Bank of England Sabotage Liz Truss’s Premiership?

5 February 2023
by Toby Young

Scientists Discover That Higher Carbon Dioxide Levels are Cooling Many Parts of the Planet

25

News Round-Up

23

Did the Bank of England Sabotage Liz Truss’s Premiership?

19

How Many Ukrainians Have Been Forcibly Transferred to Russia?

16

West Blocked Ukraine Peace Deal, Says Former Israeli PM

16

West Blocked Ukraine Peace Deal, Says Former Israeli PM

5 February 2023
by Noah Carl

How Many Ukrainians Have Been Forcibly Transferred to Russia?

5 February 2023
by Noah Carl

The Ministry of Climate Truth

3 February 2023
by Chris Morrison

The Alarming Trend in Core Mortality Since the Vaccine Rollout

3 February 2023
by Nick Bowler

99 Doctors and Medical Professionals Demand the British Heart Foundation Comes Clean About Vaccine Heart Injury ‘Cover-Up’

2 February 2023
by Will Jones

POSTS BY DATE

September 2022
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  
« Aug   Oct »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Forum
  • Donate
  • Newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Please note: To be able to comment on our articles you'll need to be a registered donor

Already have an account?
Please click here to login Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment