Liberal Dem, Stripe, Inc.
Posted on 08/19/2018 2:05:03 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK
Two alternative crowdfunding sites and one YouTube alternative start-up were effectively shuttered over the weekend by Stripe, a payment processing company. Freestartr, a free speech answer to Patreon, where conservatives like Laura Southern have been discriminated against; Bitchute, a YouTube alternative that grew to popularity after YouTube deleted or demonetized conservative channels; and MakerSupport, a fundraising platform also in competition with Patreon, were all affected. All of these platforms are very clear about staying neutral and allowing all speech on their platforms regardless of politics. The MakerSupport website reads, "MakerSupport is a platform for creators, by creators. Finally, crowdfunding is simple! We believe that creators of all stripes should be able to earn a living doing what they love." Each alternative site is dedicated to providing space for anyone.
"This canceling of our business was done for political reasons by Edwin Wee, a Democratic political operative turned Stripe employee, and it exposes the libertarian lie that one can simply just go and create a competitor if one dislikes Silicon Valley ventures," said Charles C. Johnson, CEO of Freestartr. "You can’t. We need to get over that canard." Johnson, who's been accused of being a Holocaust denier and of using racial slurs and making false charges against several individuals, is right on this issue. [Update: Johnson denies the allegations that he's a Holocaust denier. See his explanation below.] Every time reports of conservatives being silenced on social media platforms come out, a large percentage of libertarians shout, "but private companies can serve whoever they want! Build your own platforms." It is a constant criticism of anyone saying that social media and Silicon Valley need regulation or that political viewpoints need protection under the law. But when marginalized voices create their own platforms, the puppet masters of Silicon Valley who control all the infrastructure shut them down. Vox Day, a contributor at BitChute and popular author of SJWs Always Double Down, told PJM, "The denial of payment services on ideological grounds is a significant blow to the libertarian idea that private companies can be permitted to operate without government oversight." Day has significant experience being deplatformed on the major social media sites. The Daily Stormer, a racist blog that most people agree should be ignored, was deleted by Google for ideological reasons. We've gone from a country that used to believe in defending offensive speech to a society that demands offensive speech be silenced by any means necessary. But silencing racists at The Daily Stormer is not where it ends.
"The demand for Nazis or racists vastly exceeds their supply, so some people are caught up in the crossfire, sometimes literally in the case of the shooter who fired upon members of Congress and their staff playing baseball," continued Johnson. Average conservative and libertarian voices are being targeted and silenced under the pretense that they are vile racists or "Nazis."
"Every regime has scapegoats, and ours is no different. Whether you’ve participated in a Twitter mob and/or been its target, you know its power," said Johnson. "This is not dissimilar from the ancient punishments of exile or death. To be fired from your job for your politics constitutes a kind of death; it is certainly a form of exile. This kind of tribalism terrorism will undoubtedly increase precisely because it is so effective at cowing the other side and the costs of the targeting are so cheap," said Johnson, who has been called an online "troll."
Johnson believes he was targeted for political reasons by Edwin Wee at Stripe. Wee's professional history includes working on the campaigns of two prominent Democrats, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former congressman Joe Sestak.
Johnson believes he was targeted by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which continually defames innocent people as "racists." Just recently the SPLC was ordered to pay damages to Maajid Nawaz, an Islamic reformer they claimed was an "anti-Muslim extremist."
"The SPLC announced Monday that it has agreed to pay Nawaz and Quilliam $3.375 million 'to fund their work to fight anti-Muslim bigotry and extremism.' The settlement was the result of a lawsuit Nawaz filed in April over his inclusion on the SPLC’s “Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists," Jack Crowe wrote at National Review.
Stripe claimed in their notice of cancelation to Bitchute founder Ray Vahey that it was their "financial partners" who objected to Bitchute's business model. "We are politically neutral, and have many creators from across the political spectrum," Vahey told PJM. "Our site is still operational in terms of video streaming, but we have not been able to accept money since the Stripe termination," he explained. "They gave us only 5 days notice, even though our account was in good standing and we had not broken any of their rules or laws or even had any customer complaints."
The notice he received from Stripe was strange, filled with rambling excuses for termination with no specifics. Stripe employee "Gus" wrote:
Unfortunately, we won't be able to overturn our decision regarding your account. Our financial partners have some fairly strict limitations on the type of businesses we can work with, and sadly your business type falls into a category which our financial partners consider to be high-risk. I'm truly sorry about that... this is a restriction imposed upon us directly from our financial partners, who use have [sic] an archaic and frankly antiquated view of non-traditional businesses. Stripe refuses to say who the "financial partners" are. PJM also reached out to Stripe but received no response.
Update 5:12 p.m. EST: Charles Johnson vehemently denies being a Holocaust denier. "I am not, nor have I ever been a Holocaust denier. I am a strong supporter of both the state of Israel and the Jewish people," he told PJM. "It’s awkward to have even to say this, but the #FakeNews is trying to smear me and hurt my friends and allies because I have worked tirelessly to expose the Russia collusion lie at great personal expense and to support candidates who want to release the memo."
Liberal Dem, Stripe, Inc.
Obama set this all up as part of the “choke point” regulations and forcing banks and financial lenders to act as policemen for the government.
I believe those regulations have been relaxed but somebody is keeping things going in the background.
No - this has nothing to do with the internet other than they’re providing services on the internet.
This is all with US banks and US credit card processors.
And now with no controlling authority by our government these bad actors can not be held to account.
“Just recently the SPLC was ordered to pay damages to Maajid Nawaz, an Islamic reformer they claimed was an ‘anti-Muslim extremist.’”
That’s incorrect. SPLC agreed to settle. That’s very different from being ordered to pay. They have not reached any such settlement with any conservative or Christian groups they’ve committed blood libel against.
I would think these folks are violating all kinds of banking laws. What if one of these start-ups is minority owned?
And behind that credit card processor's decision is probably somebody who told them to shut off access, or else. Possibly somebody with the Deep State. Maybe bank regulators. Maybe some Dem politicians.
The Left is doing everything they can to shut down conservative voices. It indicates they might be worried about 2018...
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