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from the It's-not-easy-being-white-supremacists dept.
Over at the CCN, Gab is having trouble even getting its bitcoin on.
The declaration by free speech social network Gab that the firm was still allowed on Square’s bitcoin-friendly Cash App after being banned on other platforms may have been premature.
This emerged after the social media platform that is occasionally referred to as “alt-right Twitter,” over its popularity with extremist right-wingers, disclosed that the personal Square Cash account of the firm’s founder and CEO, Andrew Torba, had been deactivated.
Things like this are just bad for business.
Earlier this month as CCN reported, Gab had posted a tweet that gave the impression that Square’s Cash App — which allows users to buy and sell bitcoin — had reactivated Gab’s access. According to Breaker magazine, Square might have unknowingly reactivated an account belonging to Gab but will continue to “pro-actively delete any new accounts that it learned were connected with Gab.”
[...] Besides Square, other platforms that have banned Gab in the recent past include cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, online payment processing firm Stripe, bitcoin payment service provider BitPay and online payments system PayPal.
Currently, bitcoin, as well as money orders and checks sent to its post office address, are the only ways for Gab to process payments for its premium service, GabPro. On January 8, Gab announced that it had integrated with open-source crypto payment processor BTCPay Server.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Saturday January 12 2019, @10:07AM (8 children)
Agreed. For anyone who doesn't care because they don;t like the alt-right (I must say, I don't like them), keep in mind that in the crazy world today there's no telling what sort of speech may fall into disfavor tomorrow.
It's not much of a stretch to imagine financial institutions deciding they don't like people talking about a need to regulate financial institutions, for example.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @10:35AM (4 children)
We already know: Whistleblowers, activists, and journalists who challenge the status quo. MasterCard and other companies banned people from giving money to Wikileaks, for example. Allowing financial institutions to do whatever they please is a recipe for disaster, and the people who are reveling in the fact that people they don't like are being destroyed at the moment are profoundly short-sighted.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @03:25PM (3 children)
That's why in EU, you can just send money transfer with SEPA transfer
https://shop.wikileaks.org/donate#db7 [wikileaks.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area [wikipedia.org]
Actually I've rather rarely used my CC here in Germany. I pay for rent, taxes, etc., all with SEPA transfer. And it's even free.
In US or Canada I could send transfers too, but only from business accounts, which is kind of annoying. And even then, people still use the antiquated cheques.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @10:23PM (2 children)
There are alternatives until there aren't, because people stand by and do nothing as financial institutions take control over everything and work hand-in-hand with oppressive governments.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 13 2019, @01:58AM
You do realize that very thing has been happening for as long as there have been financial institutions? The Bank of England is infamous for having financed Napoleon, as well as those fighting against Napoleon.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 13 2019, @01:26PM
Only if you have useless government. In EU banks didn't like the legislation to force SEPA either. Then they really didn't like the processing timelines for SEPA that keeps going down. Now I can send you a transfer that will get there in a few seconds, but banks don't like that either. So they charge fees for instant transfers.
There was large opposition to free EU-wide roaming from the telecoms too. But now it's reality and somehow telcoms still here? Imagine that!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @02:05PM
There is. They are going to ban any critic of Islam. [8ch.net] The people behind the mass bannings from social media have all been found to be on the payroll of Saudi Arabia or Qatar, or a step removed from someone who is. They control NATO's national security agencies so nobody is going to do anything about it. Trump is still trying to make a deal with them while they're lining him up for impeachment and execution.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @05:03PM (1 child)
Aren't there "religious freedom laws" that allow de facto discrimination based on a customer's failure to meet the proprietor's litmus test of religiosity (e.g., the cake bakery)? If the financial institutions share a belief that "hate groups are bad" can't they use that litmus test to decide who they want to do business with (just like the cake bakery)?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 13 2019, @02:08AM
Fail for two reasons.
First, bankers religion is money. Their only reason for existing, is to make ever more money. It makes no financial sense to turn away worshippers of money.
Second, that bit about "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private". The law of the land doesn't say "This not is legal tender for all debts, unless we don't like you." Such a law would justify all manner of discrimination, against any group, any time, or any place.
When all is said and done, when a banking institution refuses to do buisness with any group, they are discriminating. Said institution is no better than either Antifa, or any white supremacist group. The only criteria that a financial institution should use in doing business, is whether that business is profitable, and whether the institution is risking any of their own money.