PayPal on Oct. 8 sent out an update to its terms of use, or acceptable use policy (AUP), that included a shocking addition. It reserved the right to confiscate $2,500 from people’s accounts if they spread “misinformation.” It was a clear announcement of what many already suspected: PayPal has enlisted in the information war.
This comes weeks after PayPal blocked several important accounts in the UK, including Toby Young’s personal account, the Free Speech Union, and the DailySceptic. These are hugely important venues for the English-speaking world in countering the COVID propaganda narrative. It was no accident that they were targeted.
After global protests and news coverage from alternative sources, PayPal relented and restored their accounts without explanation.
In a similar vein, protests all over the world poured in about PayPal’s new policy. Twitter filled up with announcements from people who were canceling their accounts.
By the following day, PayPal reversed itself, claiming that the banning of “misinformation” was just a mistake.
“An AUP notice recently went out in error that included incorrect information,” a spokesperson told The Epoch Times. “PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy.”
In other words, PayPal claimed that its policy on misinformation was itself misinformation!
It’s very likely that the user protest itself—and a big selloff in PayPal stock—made the crucial difference. Many people cheered, but actually, this is extremely unsettling. We can’t live in a world where our essential rights, privacy, and liberties always hang in the balance and depend on Twitter-based protests in order to have them recognized.
In addition, surely PayPal doesn’t expect that anyone on the planet really believes the claim that this was an “error.” There’s just no way. Everyone knows that something as legally and institutionally critical as the acceptable use policy would have to go through many layers of compliance bureaucracy and attorneys, especially highlighting the changes.
