In September 2022 Paypal lost the plot. The payment app suddenly became the thought police, taking it upon themselves to govern their customers speech, views and businesses. Nobody asked them to, not even the government. They decided unilaterally to change their business model from convenient payment app to internet thought police, a decision they are now back-peddling from as thousands of customers close their accounts in response.
The first to be targeted was The Free Speech Union, Paypal decided that they didn't like free speech and, without any warning, deleted the entire organisation's account, confiscating the funds that they held and informing its founded that he was no longer a customer of theirs. His other businesses, and personal account, followed within minutes. Crippling his businesses who were funded by subscribers via the paypal app.
The Purge. A series of other organisations and businesses quickly followed, a pro-life charity, an education group, and even a child protection charity all got targeted. Anyone who they didn't like was deleted. Paypal didn't even bother giving an explanation, or any pretence that these customers had 'violated their community terms and conditions' they simply pulled the plug.
Emboldened that they'd seemingly got away with it, Paypal then announced they would fine anyone who they didn't agree with $2500, and of course, they had full access to customer's bank accounts so thought nobody could stop them. On hearing the news, thousands of customers rushed to close their account only to find that the delete option was mysteriously not working at the time.
PayPal then backtracked on the policy claiming the 'update' had gone out “in error”.
“An AUP notice recently went out in error that included incorrect information. PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy. Our teams are working to correct our policy pages. We’re sorry for the confusion this has caused,” a spokesperson told National Review in a written statement.
They also relented and reinstated Toby Young's accounts following the bad press, but the dam has burst and customers are deleting their accounts in their thousands. #ByeByePaypal is trending on twitter, as is #fuckpaypal, and the company has seen millions wiped off their share-price in the last week.
The silicon valley company has suddenly realised that their market advantage is only as a convenience tool and nothing more. Customers of the second-amendment-hating company are voting with their feet and deleting their accounts. Paypal have begun offering $15 to anyone prepared to stay with them so far few have taken the bait. When trading opened on Wall Street on Monday, shares in the company fell by 6 per cent. By the time you read this, the $110 billion behemoth may be a smoking ruin. Let's hope so.
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