How Fintech Exiled Conservatives from the Financial System
Fintech platforms cut off conservatives with no notice and no appeal. Now the FTC is demanding answers. Lyceum examines the pattern.
In the wake of January 6th, hundreds of American citizens—many either conservative, religious, or COVID-skeptic—found themselves targeted by financial technology (“fintech”) firms. These politically charged account restrictions have turned into a worrying, and largely underreported, trend where the victims have no recourse or insight into their exile from the U.S. financial system.
The examples are numerous. The Trump campaign, for instance, was deplatformed by Stripe only a few days after the “Save America” rally. The payment processing company had, up to that point, happily handled all online donations to the campaign website. It now considered the campaign in violation of terms of service for, they claimed, encouraging violence.
Shopify, for its part, dropped Trump’s online stores around the same time. GoFundMe, a donation-based crowdfunding platform, followed similar course. It soon became evident that the campaign arm of the former president of the United States was in near financial isolation. Something else became evident, as well: If fintech could successfully isolate Donald Trump, it could do this to anyone.
COVID dissenters were also in the cross-hairs.
PayPal, in September of 2022, permanently limited a U.K. parents’ group (UsForThem) opposed to school closures during the pandemic. Toby Young, a Conservative life peer, was another PayPal target. He found three of his accounts closed. The rationale was simply that he contravened the company’s “Acceptable Use Policy.” In this case, public outcry was sufficient to garner the reinstatement of two of these accounts, an outcome that likely would not have occurred if Young was not a Member of the House of Lords.
GoFundMe would, again, be in the news for removing the campaign supporting Canadian truckers protesting restrictive COVID-19 mandates. Over ten million dollars had been raised and then abruptly frozen. Republican Whip and Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Ranking Member Steve Scalise (R-La.) and House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) would later launch an investigation into how the company potentially mishandled reimbursements.
Of course, fintech companies can conduct business with whom they please. And, legally, they can set grounds for account terminations. But in most if not all the high-visibility debanking and deplatforming cases, either no rational or only vague notices were provided to the individual or organization.
Americans are afforded little insight into why these decisions are being made, though occasionally a glimpse can be seen. In a Wall Street Journal interview, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman shockingly admitted that the Southern Poverty Law Center brought suggestions to the company. At one time PayPal was removing between ten and one hundred accounts a month. (The Southern Poverty Law Center is currently under federal indictment for, among other things, wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to launder money.)
That there is a trend of fintech companies targeting conservatives, from the president of the United States down to small Christian charities, is evident. Americans can be cautiously optimistic that now another trend is emerging: transparency and accountability.
In March, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent warning letters to PayPal, Stripe, and major credit card companies over reports that customers had been denied financial services because of their political or religious views. The FTC warned that companies could face investigation and enforcement actions if account restrictions conflict with their publicly stated policies.
For years, customers were often left guessing about why their financial relationships suddenly disappeared. Now a combination of public pressure and federal investigatory power may at least begin to force more of these decisions out into the open.
