{"id":1820,"date":"2022-10-18T14:21:08","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T14:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2022\/10\/18\/paypal-social-media-and-the-control-of-information\/"},"modified":"2022-10-18T14:21:08","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T14:21:08","slug":"paypal-social-media-and-the-control-of-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2022\/10\/18\/paypal-social-media-and-the-control-of-information\/","title":{"rendered":"PayPal, Social Media, and the Control of Information"},"content":{"rendered":"

The PayPal Fiasco was no Accident<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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PayPal<\/a> on Oct. 8 sent out an update to its terms of use, or acceptable use policy (AUP), that included a shocking addition. It reserved the right to confiscate $2,500 from people\u2019s accounts if they spread \u201cmisinformation<\/a>.\u201d It was a clear announcement of what many already suspected: PayPal has enlisted in the information war.<\/span><\/p>\n

This comes weeks after PayPal blocked several important accounts in the UK, including Toby Young\u2019s personal account, the Free Speech Union, and the DailySceptic. These are hugely important venues for the English-speaking world in countering the COVID propaganda narrative. It was no accident that they were targeted.<\/span><\/p>\n

[. . .]<\/span><\/p>\n

By the following day, PayPal reversed itself, claiming that the banning of \u201cmisinformation\u201d was just a mistake.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

My take is that the PayPal bums don't have the courage of their convictions. The 'woke' warriors believe in their cause only as long as commitment to it does not affect their bottom line. But when protests cause revenues to drop, they reverse their course, and then lie about their reversal!  A trifecta of outrages: the destructive anti-free speech agenda; the cowardly and crass reversal of course; and then the lies about the reversal.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Tentacles of the Social Media Octopus<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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In America we once believed our First Amendment prevented a government monopoly on information. But in the age of globalization, the Internet, and social media, the state has become the enemy\u2014not the protector\u2014of free speech.<\/span><\/p>\n

One obvious sign is that the Biden Administration keeps trying to create new sorts of ministries of truth or \u201cDisinformation Governance Boards.\u201d It alleges such Orwellian censors must combat \u201cdisinformation\u201d and \u201cmisinformation.\u201d In fact, these bureaucracies are designed to criminalize unwanted free expression while also advancing state propaganda.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among our Washington officials, the following myths were once declared the official version of the \u201ctruth\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n