10 Comments

  2. I too closed my account. Although they have backtracked on penalising what they judge to be ‘misinformation’ they still include penalties among the “Prohibited Activities” listed on the Acceptable Use Policy page for “the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory or the financial exploitation of a crime.”… in their own unchallengeable judgement.

    What is to stop some spotty herbert judging normal (small C) conservative values as a revenue raising opportunity?

    Better off out in my opinion, and I hope PayPal will reap the consequences of their political stance as a horrid example to other firms.

    • I’d like to see them crash and burn. However, I am of the same opinion as Stony here. They are too big and far too many people just don’t care or are unaware.

      • I expect you are right, but how important is their reputation and how thin are their margins? The Woke won’t be concerned about the Prohibited Activities, although they should as today’s Woke is often tomorrow’s Evil Incarnate. And thin margins will look thinner on the balance sheet if PayPal loses accounts.

  3. My thought was that PayPal would come through this mostly unscathed due to the fact that the people who care about this sort of stuff being such a small minority. Turley mentions tens of thousands of accounts being closed but this is out of how many? Hundreds of millions I would assume. If they had started stealing people’s money I would expect a class action lawsuit to happen, they have no authority whatsoever to be issuing “fines” whatever their terms and conditions might say. What we can hope for is some kind of panic where the teeming masses get worried that their money isn’t safe, similar to a run on a bank. It really would serve them right if they went bust, I just don’t think that it’s that likely. Still, we can still enjoy watching the panicking and backpedalling while it lasts. I’m not sure that deleting the offending clause from their Ts & Cs will help them now though. They have proven beyond doubt that they can’t be trusted and, when it comes to providing financial services, that is quite a big problem.

    • I thought much the same. However, it does seem to be enough of a backlash to trigger some backsliding. I hadn’t thought about the revenue they raise through interest on monies held in PayPal accounts. Logical of course, but I hadn’t weighed it up in my thinking. That said, I never kept money in there anyway, just used it as a conduit.

  4. Think about it a bit. They may have a hundred million account but most will many will rarely if ever get used, like mine, I haven’t used it for years since they introduced something I have forgotten about. I can’t use it but can’t be bothered cancelling. I haven’t accepted their T&Cs either.

    In addition most firms profits are made up from say 20% of their business. The other 80% goes in costs such as salaries and taxes. Gillette hit the same problem. Everyone that leaves and stops using them hits their profit directly more than just their percentage implies.

  5. This is paypal’s problem: it deposits money in order to receive interest and cannot get it back instantly. This becomes a problem when a lot of people all at once want their money back; normally payments can be paid out of current receipts.

    Not the same thing but insurance companies make a lot of profit in this way: even if claims and admin equal premiums they can still make a return.

    I don’t think that it is necessarily the case with paypal but does some of the fault rest with government? They pass legislation but expect others to enforce it as they do not want the expense. So a platform worries if it is carrying messages that break hate speech or anti-terrorism laws. It cannot afford to check manually so it has to be done by AI which is a blunt tool.

    Landlords have to check if a tenant has the right to live in the UK or be fined, airlines if a passenger has the right to enter the UK or be fined. A landlord does not often have the skills to do this and may err on the side of caution. It is why it is so hard to open a bank account.

  6. Just remember that if there is a problem that can’t be fixed somewhere in there is the hand of government.

  7. Was reminded of this and cancelled my account.
    Same sort of feeling as when we cancelled the bbc telly licence, you just know you have done the right thing.

    These two outfits join the many woke companies who will never see another penny of my dosh so long as i draw breath, is there a list anywhere of companies who have gone woke or had their very own Ratner moments jumping on the latest bandwagon, would hate to think i’m still buying from or using their services.

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