Comedian Jack Dee has closed his PayPal account after it canceled the accounts of the Free Speech Coalition and a group of parents who struggled to keep schools open during the lockdown.
The stand-up comedian, 60, has accused the California company of bullying customers after it also closed the accounts of UsForThem, which has campaigned to keep schools open during the Covid-19 crisis. .
He took to Twitter to announce: ‘I’m in the process of canceling my PayPal account. The big tech companies feel that they can bully people for suspecting the fundamentalists are not worthy of anyone’s business. ‘
And he was joined by former professional footballer Matt Le Tissier, who wrote: ‘That’s my PayPal account closed with my wife. Good puzzle for tin pot dictators. ‘
Arabella Skinner (pictured), director of UsForThem, an advocacy group to keep schools open during the lockdown, told MailOnline of the group’s ‘shock’ when they were told their account will be closed by PayPal.
Jack Dee (pictured), 60, accused the California company of bullying customers after it also closed the accounts of UsForThem, which has campaigned to keep schools open during Covid
He took to Twitter to announce: ‘I’m in the process of canceling my PayPal account. Big tech companies feel they can bully people for suspecting the mainstream group isn’t worthy of anyone’s business’
UsForThem was ‘shocked’ to discover it was unable to access thousands of pounds of donations after PayPal suspended its account ‘according to’ the company’s user agreement.
Just last week, PayPal, co-founded by Elon Musk, shut down the account of Toby Young’s Free Speech Union as well as his news website, Daily Skeptic.
Musk, who made about $175.8 million after PayPal was sold to eBay, has since attempted to acquire social media giant Twitter to promote ‘free speech’.
But in the latest backlash that PayPal has faced, MPs have hit back, insisting that fintech companies should not lock people’s accounts based on ‘completely legitimate political views’. France’.
At the business question, Conservative MP for Devizes Danny Kruger asked: ‘Does she share my deep concern about the decision by PayPal, the online payments company, to cancel the accounts of certain organisations. Organizations include Us for Them, who have campaigned against the Covid lockdown, and perhaps most ironically, the Free Speech Coalition, who appear to have been targeted for their views on gender and sex.
Elon Musk (pictured), who made millions from selling PayPal to eBay, tried to acquire Twitter in an effort to promote ‘free speech’
Mr. Kruger added that as society moves towards a cashless economy, fintech companies will form part of the ‘essential infrastructure of normal life.’
He added: ‘Is the Government taking steps to ensure it cannot discriminate against individuals or organizations on the basis of perfectly legitimate political views?’
Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt replied: ‘He probably has more information than I do about why PayPal has canceled that account and facility from the organizations he mentioned, but from what I understand The Freedom of Speech Coalition and other organizations also remain in the dark about exactly why they removed the services despite their best efforts to find out. ‘
Ms Mordaunt described unexplained withdrawals of services by companies as a ‘common theme among our affairs’ for many MPs.
Arabella Skinner, director of UsForThem told MailOnline the team was ‘really shocked to receive the email from Paypal’.
‘And given that it has taken similar criminal action against a number of well-known advocacy groups, advocacy and non-profit press in the UK, it gives the clear impression that this was a motivated coup. political muscle against advocacy groups that have specific views on controversial topics,’ she said.
Us For Them co-founder Molly Kingsley (pictured) said the advocacy group for schools to remain open during Covid was ‘astonished’ by PayPal’s decision to cancel their accounts which had contributed to it .
‘Reasonable, two-way debate is essential to a functioning democracy, and there should be no room for denial of service censorship.’
But Ms Skinner revealed the group was ‘delighted’ to see MPs speak out on the matter.
‘However, we are delighted to see MPs rally for cause, and we hope that this raises questions about whether it is necessary to introduce higher safeguards to protect protect against economic sanctions against companies that operate entirely legally’. she added.
Meanwhile Molly Kingsley, co-founder of UsForThem, has responded to their account closure, saying that the group – who are campaigning for children to be first in every decision affecting them – has ‘amazed’ by PayPal’s latest move.
‘No advance warning or meaningful explanation was given and although they said we could withdraw our remaining balance, we couldn’t,’ she told the Telegraph.
‘UsForThem has been completely transparent about our organization’s goals and mission statement on a prominent page on our website for everyone to read.
‘It clearly shows that our core focus is on advocating for children to be prioritized in community decision-making.’
She has called for the online financial giant to be more ‘transparent’ after their small institution was hit hard.
Last Thursday, Mr Young, who founded both the Freedom of Speech Coalition and the Daily Skeptic news blog, was told last week that three of his PayPal accounts would be closed for violating the ‘use policy’. Accepted’.
The Free Speech Coalition defends victims of cancellation culture while Daily Skeptic was formed in April 2020 to scrutinize the lockdown.
PayPal does not specify which rules the organizations have violated, but the policy contains a variety of ‘prohibited activities’ including transactions involving illegal drugs, stolen goods or ‘incitement’. hostility, violence, race or other forms of intolerance’.
For the first time Mr Young received notice that his personal account was suspended.
The account has £600 and PayPal says it will keep it for up to 180 days. Mr. Young used it to receive payments from European magazines.
Minutes later, PayPal sent the same message to two organizations that Mr. Young runs.
PayPal says it will ‘terminate’ relationships with account holders found to be in violation of its policies.
It added: ‘Striking a balance between defending the ideals of tolerance, diversity and respect for people of all backgrounds and upholding the values of free speech and open dialogue can be difficult, but we do our best to get there.’
PayPal has been approached by MailOnline for comment on the latest account closure.
