The company backtracked after a massive backlash, creating a narrative that puts the blame on "fact-checkers" while the company pretended that the entire thing never happened and that they never intended to fine people for the "wrong" opinion despite writing an entire policy update expressing that intent.
In its updated user agreement, PayPal stated that they now prohibit "the sending, posting or publication of any messages, content or materials" that present a risk to user safety or wellbeing or contain misinformation.
What counts as misinformation is at PayPal's "sole discretion" and the company would reserve the right to deduct up to $2,500 from the offending user's account if they "spread hate" or "misinformation," which roughly translates to information or opinion that the company dislikes.
More importantly, the updated terms noted a $2,500 fine per infraction, so someone who spreads information that does not align with PayPal's so-called principles could stand to lose a lot of money.
As the company's stock price continues to plummet amid users canceling their accounts, PayPal is now offering "free" money in an attempt to retain its customers.
A company spokesperson said that "an AUP notice recently went out in error that included incorrect information," adding that "PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy."
However, critics are pointing out that the company actually hasn't retracted the "hate speech" element of its social credit score system.
All this happened in the wake of PayPal restricting the accounts of organizations it seemingly disagrees with, then backtracking after headlines stated that the company could be prevented by law from banning people over their political views.
This news is generating attention now, but Paypal has been moving toward this discriminatory move for years, initially by targeting conservatives and canceling their accounts.
Eugene Volokh, a professor of law at the University of California Los Angeles, took a closer look at PayPal's policies already in place and found some alarming stipulations. PayPal prohibits activities that relate to the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that are discriminatory or the financial exploitation of a crime.
Criticizing a religion or government officials could be construed as the promotion of hate and could theoretically violate the policy.
More companies forming similar policies
It also appears that some banks are following PayPal. JPMorgan Chase recently "decided to end its banking relationship" with rapper Kanye West's company, Yeezy, LLC, and its affiliated entities.
Efforts to police misinformation are prone to significant error and overreach, with governments, media organizations and tech platforms making serious attempts at limiting the spread of misinformation by cracking down on speech they believe to be wrong or dangerous. But these measures always seem to result in the censorship of legitimate discourse.
In a series of "efforts" to block misinformation and "fake news," social media giant Facebook tried to prevent users from theorizing that the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic emerged from a lab.
Twitter, with pressure from the Biden administration, purged accounts that criticized mainstream consensus on vaccines, masks and other subjects.
YouTube policies prohibited content creators from spreading COVID-19 "misinformation," banning statements like "masks don't work" or "COVID-19 is no more dangerous than the flu." (Related: PayPal stock 'fined' 6% after flood of users cancel over $2,500 'misinformation' debacle.)
Watch the video below to learn more about PayPal and its shady policies.
This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.
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PayPal has NOT backed down, STILL issuing $2,500 fines for opposing mainstream narrative.
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