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PayPal Should Uphold Free Speech and Transparency or Face U.K. Ban

by Richard Eldred
5 August 2023 9:00 AM

Parents’ group UsForThem, who had their accounts temporarily closed by PayPal last year at the same time as the Free Speech Union and the Daily Sceptic, is urging the U.K. regulator to demand transparency and free speech assurances from the finance giant before granting it a full license. The Telegraph has more.

PayPal, the multi-billion-pound online payments service, is currently operating under a temporary licence but hopes to be granted full permission to operate in Britain permanently by the end of the year.

The service was previously allowed to operate in the U.K. under an agreement throughout Europe, but since Brexit has been on temporary licence.

It has until December to get approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for a full licence but has become embroiled in the de-banking scandal after several groups claimed their accounts were shut suddenly.

The U.S. payments company was last year accused of shutting down accounts for political motives after temporarily closing the accounts of UsForThem, the parents’ group that fought to keep schools open during the pandemic, as well as the Free Speech Union and its founder Toby Young without any clear explanation.

It later reinstated the accounts following a backlash from MPs.

Other groups that had their accounts shut down by PayPal last year included Left Lockdown Sceptics, which describes itself as a “socialist collective” opposed to government lockdown measures.

However, as customers ask banks for internal communications about their accounts using “subject access requests”, PayPal has now been accused of failing to meet its legal requirements to hand over information on customers.

Ben Kingsley, Head of Legal Affairs at UsForThem, said that PayPal had not provided information the campaign group had requested on its account closure and demanded the FCA intervene.

He said PayPal was “refusing to comply with its legal obligations under U.K. and European law to disclose the information it holds which explains why it de-banked UsForThem in September 2022”.

Mr. Kingsley said the provider “brazenly continues to ask the FCA to grant it a permanent licence” and said the regulator should demand that PayPal “justify its apparent breach of U.K. law and regulatory standards, and to suspend its licensing application in the meantime”.

He added: “The FCA must ensure that the only international financial businesses permitted to operate in the U.K. are those which commit to comply with applicable U.K. law and regulatory standards.

“This applies especially when businesses are as ubiquitous and influential as PayPal. The U.K. regulator should not allow itself to be steamrolled into granting a permanent licence to an organisation which has revealed itself to be disinterested in U.K. law and regulatory standards.”

Worth reading in full.

Tags: DebankingFree SpeechFree Speech UnionPayPalToby YoungUsForThem

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7 Comments
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varmint
varmint
2 years ago

Notice how government and woke capitalist corporations always say they “believe in free speech”. But they are liars. They only believe in government and social justice approved speech. If your speech is outwith that approved speech, then it is now in the category of “hate speech” and you need to be hounded and ostracised from polite society.

Last edited 2 years ago by varmint
80
0
prod_squadron
prod_squadron
2 years ago

“John Murphy, President and CFO, on August 02, 2023, sold 156,290 shares in Coca Cola for $9,705,328. Following the Form 4 filing with the SEC, Murphy has control over a total of 231,826 shares of the company, with 228,830 shares held directly and 2,996 controlled indirectly.”

President and Chief Financial Officer of Coca Cola sold a huge chunk of his shares the other day. Coincidence or getting out before Costa Coffee boycott gathers steam?!

32
0
stewart
stewart
2 years ago

The FCA must ensure that the only international financial businesses permitted to operate in the U.K. are those which commit to comply with applicable U.K. law and regulatory standards.

Shutting down people’s accounts is perfectly legal. Therein lies the problem.

And it’s legal not because.of a loophole but very deliberately so. It’s not a bug but a feature.

23
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago

Crikey, Farage hasn’t half lit a bonfire.

Nice one Sir Nigel.

48
0
For a fist full of roubles
For a fist full of roubles
2 years ago

Whatever happens I won’t be using them. I shut my account when they tried to introduce fines for users and I haven’t missed them.

29
0
Boomer Bloke
Boomer Bloke
2 years ago

I stopped using PayPal several years ago when they started debanking people on the right of centre politically. It was temporarily an inconvenience but manageable. They will not be missed.

31
0
Jane G
Jane G
2 years ago

I stopped using them when they de-banked the FLCCC. I would have ditched them for their stance on FSU and UsForThem.

I’ve a very long memory for things like this; I could almost wish for a return to postal orders to pay for stuff.

16
0

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