It’s been a while but that’s how long we were in the “PayPal Freezer” in which a lot of donations from you folks were frozen by PayPal. Back in May, we were notified that PayPal, like a lot of similar Conservative sites, that they had withdrawn their services from us (“PayPal Has Decided to Shut GraniteGrok off from Its Services“). We could not pay for services (like our hosting charges, software, and media subscriptions, and “blogging equipment”) nor could we accept any additional monies (donations, ads, and the like). We did happen to have a “backup” PayPal account and we quickly moved operations to that account. Everything, except a most valuable thing – the funds in the frozen account were also frozen. The balance was what the balance was and it was going to just sit there. Period.
Normally, a PayPal account holder can transfer funds from PayPal down to a bank account or up from a bank account. If we had had the chance to transfer the amount down to our bank account, we would have said “fine, we’ll send the money down and we’d be done”. Not a chance – that money was stuck in place just as if it would have been in the middle of Glacier National Park (that didn’t disappear like in 2020 like the Government said it would in “supporting Global Warming”). And much of that money was donated for this purpose – we didn’t spend it on other stuff.
So, with all that as a runup, I am happy to say that PayPal unfroze the account earlier this week and they “ever so graciously” said that we could have access to our money again.
Sidenote: I could log in, and check a couple of things, but other than that, we could do nothing but see our money that couldn’t be touched. Mostly just wanted to check that they, like Socialists and many in Government think, thought that our money was THEIR money and had decided to just take it. After all, they kept it for six months, just gathering the interest on money that wasn’t theirs.
Or as they said:
As a reminder, access to your account will remain limited. While access to your account is limited, you may:
- place logos into your auction listings or on your website
- update your account information
- withdraw funds from your account
You may not:
- send or request money
- receive payments
- add funds to your account
- close your account
Now, I don’t “get” that we can’t close the account (I’m going to try anyways) but that we could withdraw the funds. What’s the difference?
But given that restrictions, we’ve moved all that money down to our local bank and into an account that we’ve had for years for GraniteGrok. Seeing that I’ve done business with them for over 40 years, I doubt that they are about to cancel us. We’ve also moved just about all of our funds from our backup PayPal account toa similar purposed account as well (e.g., fool us once, shame on us, fool us twice, shame on you – and we’re not going to let you).
If we have to pay someone using Paypal, we’ll upload it. If money comes in, we’ll download it. Thus, our exposure to the machinations of PayPal and its Wokeness is now about as minimal as we can get other than dropping it. We realize that this caused no small amount of consternation on a variety of fronts for us and you folks as well
However, just like in the social media space where Big Tech was hammering Conservatives, we’re looking at conservative options in the “FinTech” space. (we’ve looked deeply at two new processors; neither quite made the grade. However, if we do find one, we’ll be adding it to GraniteGrok as an option for you.
Given how badly PayPal has been behaving, it won’t take long. After all, back in September/October of this year, PayPal decided to change their AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) that went FAR beyond the financial realm – like all of the Woke Big Tech, they believed that they had the muscle, given that size and status in the market place, to tell their customers how we were supposed to behave. You know, like the Republican Party is “gifting” us squishy candidates that we know will be awful on the idea that “where else are the voters going to go?” in derision.
- Well, just as the GOP found out, the voters they needed just didn’t show up last week, PayPal found themselves in a PR firestorm of their own creation (reformatted, emphasis mine):
PayPal Updates User Policy to Include Possible $2,500 Fine For Speech It Doesn’t Like
PayPal’s clause about taking users’ funds for a violation of its rules has long been established. But, as published on September 26th and to be effective on November 3rd, 2022, PayPal will add restrictions to its acceptable use policy that go beyond illegal activities and fraud and into the realm of policing speech. The updated policy prohibits users from using PayPal for activities that:
“Involve the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials that, in PayPal’s sole discretion, (a) are harmful, obscene, harassing, or objectionable … (e) depict, promote, or incite hatred or discrimination of protected groups or of individuals or groups based on protected characteristics (e.g. race, religion, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.) … (g) are fraudulent, promote misinformation … or (i) are otherwise unfit for publication.”
…“Violation of this Acceptable Use Policy constitutes a violation of the PayPal User Agreement and may subject you to damages, including liquidated damages of $2,500.00 U.S. dollars per violation, which may be debited directly from your PayPal account(s),” the new policy reads.
…What’s especially horrid about how PayPal operates beyond being able to yank $2,500 from your account because you posted something they disagree with is that there typically is no advance warning and no appeals process.
And as we know well, the Left here just in NH HATE GraniteGrok and have done what they can do to disparage us, write legislation against us, and went to our hosting company to get us de-platformed (right Jan Schmidt??). Demonetization just from Paypal wouldn’t cause us to go under but it would hurt. Given that our “speech” would fit right in with what PayPal would no longer allow, the Democrats/Progressives would JUMP at the chance to make life harder for us.
And as we found out, there’s no appeal process just like if you get put into either Facebook or Twitter “jail”. You learned that you violated “our community values” but could never find out which one and no way to make amends.
Heck, a single day’s worth of posts could have wiped us out – just that easy (right Elle Gallo?). Thus, our actions once we got “unfrozen”. But there’s more:
That sounds like a good reason to think twice about using PayPal. I’ve just withdrawn the $1000+ I have in my PayPal account, and I’m starting the process of disentangling myself from the service to the extent possible
Our amounts were substantially more than that and we are doing the same process. This is almost like Quiznos, the now defunct sub/sandwich chain, that forced its customers (franchisors) to purchase everything from them – they all quit. How to scare your customers away. And like Quiznos, PayPal got mauled:
PayPal’s stock dropped more than 6 percentage points on Monday after reports emerged that the firm may attempt to fine people $2,500 for spreading “misinformation” via the platform. Over the weekend, the company told The Epoch Times that “PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy,” adding, “An [acceptable use policy] notice recently went out in error that included incorrect information,” the statement said.
That bolded part? Yeah, nobody believed them. Sorry, no legal document gets changed by “an intern” and instantly emailed and put up on their website. Not even a junior lawyer, either. That “we’re just taking your money to be ours because we hate your unwoke speech” had to go through multiple layers of editing and approval. And trying to pawn it off as a little mistake didn’t take at all. And like I said, all it takes is someone on the Left to call another group a “hate group”
“A private company now gets to decide to take your money if you say something they disagree with. Insanity,” former PayPal President David Marcus wrote on Twitter.
Elon Musk, the head of Telsa who co-founded PayPal decades ago, said that he “agreed” with Marcus’s Twitter post.
Over the weekend, users on Twitter called for a boycott of PayPal and users indicated that they stopped using the payment company’s services. After PayPal’s mea culpa, critics of the firm did not appear convinced that the policy was issued in error.
…Several weeks ago, PayPal banned a group named “Gays Against Groomers” that some LGBT activists claimed to be a “hate group.”
And then PayPal tried to slither around its self-generated PR fiasco:
- PayPal Says It Won’t Fine Users $2,500 for Misinformation, but It Will Fine Them for ‘Intolerance’
- PayPal Did NOT Back Down, STILL Threatens $2,500 Fines for Promoting ‘Hate’ and ‘Intolerance’
That’s terrific, or would be if it weren’t for the fact that PayPal’s current Acceptable Use Policy still threatens $2,500 fines per infraction for promoting “hate” and “intolerance” — language the Left regularly uses to characterize (and demonize) speech that is critical of its insane policies.
…Click on that “Restricted Activities and Holds” section, and you’ll find a long list of “you must nots,” including the expected prohibitions of fraud, selling counterfeit goods, and the like. But included on the list of things you must not do is “Provide false, inaccurate or misleading information.” False, inaccurate, or misleading in the eyes of whom? Why, of PayPal’s Leftist hall monitors, of course, and no one else, including the person PayPal accuses: “If we believe that you’ve engaged in any of these activities, we may take a number of actions to protect PayPal, its customers and others at any time in our sole discretion.” No one else’s. You’ll have no appeal, no recourse, no opportunity to present your side of the story.
Leftists routinely accuse patriots of promoting hate: Wanting a secure southern border is promoting hate. Not wanting to see our schools become platforms for genuinely hateful and false race grievance propaganda is promoting hate. Disagreeing with the Leftist dogma that Islam is a religion of peace is promoting hate. Not believing that Jan. 6 was an insurrection or that Donald Trump is a traitorous Russian puppet is promoting hate.
And for us on the Right? I think Sarah Hoyt said it well:
- MOSTLY THEY SHOT THEMSELVES THROUGH THE HEAD:…It’s much worse than the author thinks. They’re a financial services company that can’t be trusted with money. This is like being a restaurant that poisons random meals. They’re done.
It’s all too tragic. PayPal was set up initially as a means of obtaining financial independence from government-controlled banks. It even hoped to become an independent form of money. All these years later, it has been captured by interests that have the very opposite ambition. In truth, many people out there cheer the prospect.
And there are options out there (here, here)
