Many communities use services like PayPal to raise money for causes that may not get funds through more traditional means like grants and loans. Unfortunately, Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch reveals that PayPal was an integral part of funding the Unite the Right “rally” over the weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia.
PayPal, one of the world’s largest online payment processors, was integral in raising money to orchestrate the event. Organizers, speakers, and individual attendees relied on the platform to move funds in the run up to the ultimately deadly event.
Despite the company’s Acceptable Use Policy explicitly banning “the promotion of hate, violence, [and] racial intolerance,” the following organizers and attendees were allowed to utilize PayPal’s surface before and after the events in Charlottesville.
Now PayPal says they’re doubling down on their policy and will be closing accounts for white supremacist groups, according to ZDNet.
Payments giant PayPal will be rescinding its services from sites that accept payments or raise funds to promote hate, violence, and intolerance in response to Saturday's events in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"Regardless of the individual or organisation in question, we work to ensure that our services are not used to accept payments or donations for activities that promote hate, violence, or racial intolerance," the company said in a statement.
"This includes organisations that advocate racist views, such as the KKK, white supremacist groups, or Nazi groups."
PayPal’s move comes after months of calls from groups like SPLC, the Washington Post reports.
“For the longest time, PayPal has essentially been the banking system for white nationalism,” Keegan Hankes, analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center, told The Washington Post. “It’s a shame it took Charlottesville for them to take it seriously.”