‘The withdrawal of banking services from an individual or an organisation because they aren’t toeing the right political line is something you’d expect to happen in Communist China or North Korea – but not in a supposedly free country,’ Mr Young said.
Paypal under public pressure from the main-stream media and senior politicians has backed down and reinstated Us For Them's Paypal account.
Not On The Beeb was one of the first organisations to be targeted by Paypal and we have NOT had our accounts or monthly donations restored.
This appeared in the DAILY MAIL
Michael Gove among senior Tories urging ministers to hold PayPal to account after the US online payment giant abruptly cancelled the accounts of free speech campaigners
Leading figures in Conservative Party are demanding PayPal is held to account
Michael Gove, Iain Duncan Smith and Sir Graham Brady among senior Tories wanting PayPal to be accountable after cancelling a freedom of speech group
PayPal has so far refused to say which of its rules the accounts had broken
Last week, comedian Jack Dee and football pundit Matt Le Tissier took to social media to announce that they were closing their own PayPal accounts in protest
Leading figures in the Conservative party including Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Gove and Sir Graham Brady have demanded ministers hold PayPal to account after it abruptly cancelled a group which campaigns for freedom of speech.
Toby Young, who set up the Free Speech Union and the Daily Sceptic news blog said three of his PayPal accounts were closed by the American online payments giant without explanation last week for an alleged violation of its policies.
The FSU defends victims of so-called ‘cancel culture’ and academics accused of holding ‘un-woke’ opinions, while the Daily Sceptic was set up to scrutinise lockdown policies and their impact.
PayPal has so far refused to say which of its rules the accounts had broken.
Now dozens of Tory party grandees and peers from across the political divide have now written to Business Secretary Jacob Rees Mogg accusing PayPal of censorship, claiming it was ‘hard to avoid construing its actions as an orchestrated, politically-motivated move to silence critical or dissenting views’.
The letter, signed by 42 MPs and peers, warns that PayPal appears to be using ‘its dominant position in the market’ to ‘impose private economic sanctions on organisations of whose views it disapproves and thus to restrict their ability to engage in political debate in the public square’.
The politicians – who include Labour MP Graham Stringer – are urging ministers to demonstrate the Government’s commitment to free speech by demanding an explanation from PayPal for its actions.
They also call for the company to release any remaining donations or payments that it has confiscated unfairly from Mr Young’s accounts.
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Mr Young said he believed his organisation’s critical stance against lockdown policies – and, in particular, how they may have negatively affected the nation’s children – prompted PayPal to shut down the accounts.
And he has likened the company’s actions to those of a despotic political regime.
‘The withdrawal of banking services from an individual or an organisation because they aren’t toeing the right political line is something you’d expect to happen in Communist China or North Korea – but not in a supposedly free country,’ Mr Young said.
‘As the move towards a cashless society gathers speed, we need to put laws in place to stop financial services companies like PayPal from engaging in this kind of political censorship.
A message from Us For Them
Dear Supporters,
We have been overwhelmed by the support we have received from you - thank you. We can report that PayPal have, according to The Times, accepted that they were “over zealous” and have reinstated our account. There has been no explanation or apology to UsForThem and no guarantee that this will not happen again - just an anonymous email saying that our access has been restored and thanking us for our patience! Needless to say, we will be closing our account forthwith, and we would ask you do the CALL TO ACTION below.
The story of UsForThem, The Free Speech Union and others being cancelled by PayPal touched a nerve amongst our Parliamentarians, celebrities and the media as well as among like minded groups such as Together who galvanised their supporters. On Thursday, Danny Kruger MP asked a question in Parliament to Penny Mordaunt MP about his concern that PayPal had shut UsForThem’s account without any warning. This was followed by Jack Dee cancelling his account in disgust, #BOYCOTTPAYPAL was trending and media coverage even included the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 (7.45 am)
And yesterday, 42 Parliamentarians led by Miriam Cates - including Michael Gove, Sir Iain Duncan-Smith, Sir Graham Brady, and Robert Halfon - wrote to Jacob Rees-Mogg as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Andrew Griffith as Financial Secretary to the Treasury to express their concerns. They have urged them to request the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority address PayPal’s ability to impose private economic sanctions, and to look at whether legislative safeguards are needed to protect individuals and groups. You can read about this in the Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Telegraph.
This has been shocking and whilst our account has been reinstated we are not aware that anyone else's has been. It cannot be the case that in a liberal democracy private financial service providers are able to withdraw critical services for political ends and at the swish of a pen silence dissenting views. If you decide to close your account we would urge you to write to PayPal and let them know why you have done so.
Again, thank you all so much for your support. We shall now carry on fighting for our children and the kind of future we bequeath to them.
With thanks,
The UsForThem team
