Don't PayPal, Pay Attention.

My letter to an old and fading 'pal.'

Dear Mr PayPal,

Or to give you what must be your full name, Mr Payment Pal. I assume the “pal” part is meant to signify “friend.”

Hey Pal! Take it from me, we are no longer pals. Actually, we never were really pals were we? And yet we’ve had our association for twenty years. A twenty years long relationship! Would you believe it, if this were a wedding anniversary, we’d get China as a gift. How uncanny is that?

China!

Alright, I know it means crockery, but imagine if it actually meant China! You’re giving me a real taste of China, and not because of the various goods I’ve bought through you that have their origins in that country. No, it’s the tinge of Mao in the dictatorial vibe. For now it is a ghost, a mere whisper of the burgeoning social credit system. Yet I feel that this is something bigger than a mere rehearsal going on. We are “pals” in the way that people are (not) Facebook “friends,” that is to say, not friends at all. Just virtual tech friends. Pretence and lies.

And, so now we are getting a divorce. I’ll tell you what Pal.

You can keep the China.

Sigh. I reminisce. We’ve known each other since the eBay days. I always guessed you were ambitious. The sheer scale of your ambition now is really striking however. You are no longer merely a financial payment service. You are now the arbiter of what is great and good, or even “acceptable.” That’s quite a promotion you’ve given yourself. Let’s face it “pal,” you are a payment system, not a legal system. A mere utility. I don’t mean that unkindly. You are an important utility, a utility that got big because people trusted you. And you had to do some real work for that didn’t you? It hasn’t all been plain sailing. And now you’re a big boy in the playground, you like to push others around. In a world dominated by appearances that really is not a good “look.”

You’ve joined the ranks of the unfathomable “stakeholder” capitalists who no longer understand that the raison d’etre of a business is to provide a reliable service to the public and to make money and profits. Forget all of that. Nowadays it is about promoting politics at every turn. You are like the train company that no longer just runs trains, the supermarket that no longer just sells groceries and other goods, and the media companies that no longer make good entertainment. In other words, organisations that no longer do what they set out to do and who now see themselves as promoters of particular strands of ideology. Bewilderingly niche strands. You’re like a virtual postman-woman who in times past would have been delivering people’s cheque payments. Indulge me for a moment.

Hey, Pal, picture (if you will) the postman who reaches someone’s front door (let’s call him Toby, a name I’ve chosen at random) and when Toby reaches for his mail, he gets a note from the postman who is refusing to post anything resembling a payment through his door because Toby liked something said postman did not approve of, or Toby worked on behalf of someone the postman did not like, or, well, what other reason can I conjure? Perhaps Toby told the truth about something and the postman did not like it because it revealed something deep and important about what is true in this life. And so, the postman, when asked, would simply refuse to tell Toby why he was doing this. Toby would have no form of redress. There would be no one to speak to. We would not know, and would never come to know why the postman had taken his action.

Computer says “no.”

The situation is so Kafkaesque. In case you never read it, Franz Kafka’s The Trial features a character, K, who is arrested and is never told and never finds out why. Of course, we can guess why K is arrested if we pay attention. K is arrested for who, or what he is and what he might believe.  You might ask why only “K?” I guess it might be just a coincidence. However, given that co-inciditis is the world’s biggest killer these days, I am loathe to use the word lightly. But I digress. K for Kafka was Jewish, and one might presume he had a fulsome reason for feeling the winds of paranoia blowing around him. Now, nobody knows when it will be their turn. But as surely as anything. All our turns are coming.

Come on Pal, only bullies and cowards force others to their way of being. (Note I don’t write “thinking,” because, Pal you’re not exactly thinking are you?) Only cowards and bullies try to silence others.

(At first, I typed “billies” there instead of bullies. But I guess there is at least one Billy who forces his ways onto and into others. And I would bet that there is a nice big fat connection between the lot of them somehow).

PayPal for Everyone!

Well, obviously that is not true given all those millions of accounts you saw fit to close. Be careful now, you might be giving people ideas here. I know you want to prevent conspiracy theories. However, to do that, you have to show us that they’re not true. The problem you’ve created is that you’re making (yet) another one of the many conspiracy “theories” turn into a fact. Don’t you remember that everyone was talking about the injections being the gateway to the “digital passports.” And the passports were the gateway to a central bank digital currency (CBDC). This CBDC would eventually be forced onto everyone, resulting in the obliteration of cash and the total control over everyone’s spending. Conspiracy theories! Of course, given Justin Untrue-deau’s oh so brave cancellation of protesting truckers’ bank accounts (and let’s not forget their supporters – the little people) this was a little forerunner of what is planned. Think, do, say or “click” the wrong thing and you have everything taken away at the touch of a virtual button. Become a non-person, a net zero. There I go, going on about who gets the China again…

Computer (sort of) says no.

PayPal really says no.

It is notable that you use the word “violated” in your standard explanation to those you boot off. As Toby Young explained:

“I’d violated the company’s ‘Acceptable Use Policy’. I looked at that policy and it covers things like fraud and money laundering so my first thought was it must be a mistake.”

It was a mistake alright. The word “violate” conjures up much more than an infringement or disregard of policies. It is etymologically close to violence, and additionally carries meanings associated with breaking in, breaking through, desecration, profanity, and sexual molestation. I wonder if that last one is triggering to you given the exposure given to some of the groups you allow to use your services. (The Daily Sceptic has more details for the curious reader).

You’ve cancelled the account of a charity campaigning for children (since reneged and which, let’s face it would not need to exist but for the very policies you apparently endorse); you’ve cancelled the facility of a union that supports cancelled people whose freedom of speech has been threatened. I really could not make this up.

There’s a brave Pal!

I heard that you are advising the (British) government on the creation of a central bank digital currency. The thought of this is surreal and frightening. So it is true then, there will be a CBDC. What are people to believe now that you are confirming all their fears? A conspiracy this may have been, a theory it is not. Yet another in a lengthening line of “conspiracy theories” that have become facts. Will you cancel people who point this out I wonder.

Will I miss you? Maybe. Yes, I admit you were convenient. But there was life before you came, and there will be life afterwards. I will survive!

The question still buzzes around though. Why you feel the need to do all this cancellation. The removal of legally operated organisations from your business harms everyone, and you’re “for everyone” aren’t you? Isn’t that what diversity and tolerance are after all? Let me get this straight, you would rather lose money than provide an escrow service – at a profit – to those who differ from you? Great business plan.

Oh, hang about. I heard on the free speech grapevine that you relented! You wrote to Toby:

We have continued to review the information provided in connection with your account and we take seriously the input from our customers and stakeholders. Based on these ongoing reviews, we have made the decision to reinstate your account. You should now be able to use your account in the normal way. We sincerely appreciate your business and offer our apologies for any inconvenience this disruption in service may have caused.

For once you Paid Pal. You paid the price.

Or at least you appear to have done. Doubtless it is all part of some plan. Whilst we are all smirking at your about turn, you’re getting ready to share the secrets of political cancellation with our masters.

In the meantime, my policy is not to make use of services that promote hate, violence or racial intolerance. I regularly assess activity against my Acceptable Use Policy and carefully review actions reported to me, and will discontinue my relationship with providers who are found to violate my policies.

Goodbye.

Don’t PayPal, Pay attention.

And, dear reader here is what I actually wrote when trying to close my account. Strangely there are “pending transactions” preventing the final closure. But we’ll get there. I was asked, is there a problem with your account?

“To answer your question: I am unhappy that PayPal now considers itself the arbiter of what can and cannot be thought. It "cancels" financial services with no reason given. In a free society, one cannot function in this way, not knowing if one's ideas or thoughts are "wrong" and that we might have our livelihoods or services withdrawn at a moment's notice with no warning and with no reason offered.

It is with this in mind that after 20 years of dealing with PayPal I feel I must now leave before you cancel me. I have no way of knowing what standards you hold that I may be guilty of "violating" and therefore there is no longer any trust.

I cannot rely on PayPal.

That you have seen fit to "cancel" 4.5 million accounts because of wrong thought is, in my view, reprehensible. I cannot see how PayPal can place itself in the position of a legal judge. If you believe someone is guilty of a crime you should involve the law. Where is the due process? Everyone has the right to conduct their business unless committing a crime. Holding views or advocating a position you or your bosses do not like is not sufficient.

The fears that many have about a Chinese style social credit system are being borne out by your conduct.

The cancellation procedure you have violates my policies on fair play and reasonable access to financial and other services. It is with regret that I can no longer endorse your organisation in its current authoritarian form.”

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